Can't Forget
by Vampire Toy
Summary: Kadaj, Yazoo, and Loz are given a second chance to try be good, but old habits die hard. A sequel to ‘Memories’. Warning: Weird pairings, weird plot.
1. Chapter 1

Can't Forget

Rating: PG-13

By: Vampire Toy

Summary: Kadaj, Yazoo, and Loz are given a second chance to try be good, but old habits die hard. A sequel to 'Memories'. Warning: Weird pairings, weird plot.

A/N: Wow, thanks to everyone who reviewed 'Memories'! I had no idea so many people would like it, so here I came up with a possible sequel since you guys wanted it XD. I made it a sequel instead of continuing 'Memories' just in case some people didn't like the sequel so here in they can pretend it never happened X3. Anyway, most of you can guess the main pairing yes? Other pairings to-be-decided so if you have some you like, feel free to throw in suggestions (het, yaoi, yuri, whatever), but know that most will be weird.

XXX

The day was a long and dreary one, rain falling almost non-stop for hours, making it impossible to go outside. Marlene leaned her cheek in her palm as she rested her elbow on the windowsill. Her face hung so close to the window that her own breath began to fog up the glass. Her eyes fell slack and her head softly thumped against the window as she dozed off.

Normally rain would make her happy and perky, she enjoyed it because it showed her Aeris was watching her, but this wasn't Aeris' rain, this rain was too different and almost despondent.

"Marlene."

"Hnnf." She gave a small grunt and squinted, lifting her head to look at Tifa's reflection in the glass.

"You ok?" the black haired woman asked as she finished drying the last of the dishes.

"Yeah." Marlene mumbled. Tifa sighed and placed the plate down, walking over to the gloomy looking child.

"Are you sure?" Tifa sat at a table across from the small girl. Marlene yawned and flopped back away from the window.

"Why is the rain so icky today?" she asked sleepily. Tifa smiled and shook her head; "I don't know sweetie."

Marlene sighed and leaned back in her chair, letting her eyes close slowly once again.

"Marlene, why don't you go watch TV with Denzel and the other kids? I'm sure Denzel would like that." Tifa tried again.

Marlene's eyes opened wearily and she shook her head.

"Why not? You don't want to stay here and be bored do you?" Tifa asked gently.

"I think something cool is going to happen." She murmured.

"Hmm? Like what?"

"I dunno…. something cool ….like….." the brunette trailed off slowly and looked out the window hopefully.

"Something like…?" Tifa's eyes narrowed worriedly, ever since she'd taken Marlene back to the church, the little girl had been constantly talking about the three silver haired men that they had defeated only months earlier. Not only was she constantly bringing them up, but she also seemed a lot more aloof and wanted to go back to the church more often. Barret had given Tifa strict instructions not to let her go back; apparently he'd noticed Marlene's change too and he definitely didn't like it.

Tifa tried to pry into the little girl's mind when she had the time, and lately, that had been a lot. The rain had been going on and off in heavy sheets for most of the month. Though that was unusual for winter in Midgar, the most complaining anyone had done was that they got wet on their way to work and sometimes, in the spastically vicious storms, Tifa would silently complain over her lack of customers.

Lately she'd come to accept the rain a slight bit, but only because she wanted to help Barret snap Marlene out of her little daze. Barret having to work a lot more lately, left the biggest part of the job up to Tifa.

"I dunno….something amazing." Marlene finally answered.

"You mean…something with Kadaj?" Tifa asked. Marlene blinked in surprise and giggled; Tifa couldn't understand what was so funny, but she had Marlene's attention so she was doing pretty well.

"I think this is _his_ rain."

"_His_?" Tifa asked.

"I mean, **their** rain. It's _their_ kind of rain." Marlene said with a nod.

Tifa sighed and sat back, looking out the window worriedly; she hoped Marlene would just snap out of this stage, it was becoming harder to get through to her. Even the other children were beginning to notice and stayed away from her, Denzel was the only one who still talked and played with her.

"Marlene, those three…" Tifa said gently, trying not to completely deter her, "Kadaj and Yazoo and Loz, they're all gone….forever."

"Yeah they died."

Tifa gave a half smile out of slight surprise and amusement but she quickly nodded to confirm Marlene's statement.

"Yes, so I don't think you should keep talking about them so much…"

"Why?"

"Well, when people die, the people still alive are sad for a little while. Their sad time is over."

"I just don't wanna forget them."

"Why is that?"

"I liked them."

The black haired woman sat up startled; as she recalled, Loz had completely beaten the crap out of her and kidnapped Marlene. From what Denzel had told her she knew that Kadaj and his brothers weren't being the most lovable or likable people. Kadaj was good at persuasion, Tifa would give him that, but all the children knew by now that everything he'd said was a lie. How was it possible for Marlene to like them?

"Can we go to the church?" Marlene asked before Tifa could speak up.

"Oh, no Marlene, it's raining…"

"No, it stopped."

"What?" Tifa turned and looked out the window curiously. The rain _had_ stopped, almost suddenly, but Tifa didn't give it any thought. Now that it wasn't raining, it'd be hard to find an excuse to keep Marlene out of the church.

"Umm, it'll be too wet if we go now, you won't be able to sit down and water might drip from the beams and parts of the ceiling. I don't want you to get wet because you'll get sick."

Marlene frowned and sighed, getting up and leaving the room quietly.

Tifa stood up slowly and shook her head lightly, looking back out the window at the dark evening. Though it had stopped raining the clouds still hung in the air threateningly.

"Tifa?"

"Hmm?" Tifa turned to a small bronze haired boy and smiled wearily, "Yes Denzel?"

"Can I take Marlene to the church?" he asked.

"No Denzel." She sighed.

"Why not? The rain stopped and stuff, she won't get sick I promise."

"I can't let you two go by yourselves Denzel."

"But I'm eleven! I can take care of both of us!" Denzel whined.

"I know Denzel, but it's not that simple."

"Why not?" he made a face and crossed his arms, "It's safe there you know! Marlene says Aeris wouldn't let bad things happen to us there!"

Tifa paused a moment and turned to look back outside; if Marlene wanted to visit Aeris it would be ok for her to go to the church wouldn't it?

"…alright…but a little later ok? I'll go with you later, but right now I need to manage the bar alright?" Tifa asked with a smile. Denzel was quiet, scrunching his face thoughtfully before nodding and running out.

_There we go_, Tifa smiled, _everyone's happy_.

XXX

"Really, really?" Marlene asked for the twentieth time since she and Denzel had left to go to Aeris' church.

"Yeah! Come on, trust me, she was going to let us come anyway." Denzel reassured his younger friend.

"Thanks Denzel!" she smiled. He grinned in return and nodded.

Suddenly Marlene felt a droplet on her cheek, then another one then another one until Denzel felt it too and began running and pulling her behind him.

"It's raining again!" he yelled, "If we run we might not get really wet!"

Marlene stumbled behind him but he held onto her hand firmly, almost dragging her under the church's high-roofed entrance. The rain was coming down in sheets again as it had an hour earlier, making Denzel nervous as he pushed open one of the large double doors. He had planned to go to the church with Marlene and be back before Tifa could notice, but if the rain kept on they wouldn't be able to get back at all.

Denzel and Marlene trotted slowly to some of the dry benches that were still in place; there was very little roof on the church but enough to keep them dry. Both sat huddled together in the corner of the pew; though they were in a dry place, the cold could still get to them and it seemed near freezing because of their already slightly damp clothes.

"When do you think the rain will stop?" Denzel asked.

"I dunno, I'm cold…"

"Just stay close to me and we'll be warm."

"Do you think Tifa will come get us because she sees the rain?" Marlene asked looking innocently up at Denzel. The older boy blushed sheepishly and mumbled something incoherent; why would Tifa come get them if she didn't know where they were?

"Hey look!"

"Huh?" Denzel looked up to where Marlene was pointing. She crawled out of his lap and leaned over the bench in front of the one they were sitting on.

"Look!"

Denzel couldn't find what she was pointing to; all he saw was the flower patch.

"Can you see?" she asked turning to him with excitement.

"See what?" he asked leaning over the bench also to take a closer look.

He blinked curiously, squinting to see through the rain, then his eyes widened in surprise.

"Something's glowing over there…" Denzel murmured.

"Yeah!" Marlene ran out into the rain but Denzel jumped and pulled her back.

"Hey! Come on Denzel! Look! Look! It's Aeris! Let's go say hi!" Marlene whined wriggling furiously.

"You don't know that! It might just be a freaky glowing murderer!"

"Denzeeeeeelllll!" Marlene wailed.

"_That's alright, stay out of the rain for now."_ Aeris said, her image becoming all the clearer as the rain inside the temple slowly drizzled to a stop while it continued to come down excessively outside.

Denzel stared with his mouth slightly open as if trying to speak while Marlene giggled and pulled him to the center of the church.

"_You two have been very good."_ Aeris smiled, kneeling down in front of them.

"Why are you here? Did you want to talk to me or Cloud or Denzel or-" Marlene stuttered excitedly. Seeing Aeris in these random appearances was the only way for Marlene to directly talk to someone she considered incredibly special. They didn't happen often, in fact, this was only the second time Aeris had appeared to her, Marlene was sure she appeared more often to Cloud but she wasn't around Cloud so much that she could notice.

"_I'm here to see you two."_

Marlene gave her a big smile and put her hands behind her back shyly, "Did Kadaj come too?"

Aeris' smile slowly faded and she lowered her eyes to the flowers below for a few minutes before speaking again;_ "I'm here to talk to you about Kadaj."_

"Ka…Kadaj! Kadaj, he's horrible! Him and his brothers…I don't like any of them!" Denzel spat out, finally finding his voice, still slightly unsure if he should trust the woman in front of them.

Aeris looked over at him and smiled again, reaching out and placing a hand gently on his cheek causing him to blush. Marlene also tossed a meek side-glance at her friend, slightly deterred by his words. Aeris placed another hand on Marlene's cheek and met her eyes with a smile.

"_Yes they've done bad things haven't they? Who would know better than you two?"_

Marlene averted her eyes at the comment and felt a familiar pang of guilt build up again; the way Aeris was talking made it obvious that the visit was in relation to Kadaj and it wasn't good.

"_This will be a lot to ask of you two."_ Aeris said, _"But I believe you two can handle it and that's why I'm asking it."_

Both Marlene and Denzel were silent and curious.

"_You know in death that you become part of the lifestream, part of the earth?" _

Both nodded but stayed quiet.

"_Though Kadaj, Yazoo, and Loz have all entered the lifestream, there's a threat they will be spit back out."_

"Huh?" both children tilted their heads simultaneously.

Aeris giggled and held up a finger to show she wasn't finished; _"You see, because we become part of the earth, we give back some of what was taken out by the rest of the living. Therefore the earth will only take good spirits."_

"So where do those creeps go if they're already in the lifestream?" Denzel asked.

"Why did the lifestream take them if it thought they were bad?" Marlene asked nervously.

"_That's part of what I wanted to ask of you two."_ Aeris said softly, _"You see, children always go into the lifestream when they die regardless of whether they were good or bad because their judgement isn't as clear as an older persons. Kadaj and his brothers were technically children, they were around three years old each so when they died, they immediately went into the lifestream."_

"But…?" Denzel pressed.

"But they have the evil of an adult in the things they've done and the earth does not want their negative energy."

"So…?" Marlene asked eagerly.

Aeris chuckled at their impatience; _"So, I have suggested that they be put back on earth so that you two can help them be good. When they're good, the earth will take them back, but if they are killed again while remaining bad, then the earth will reject them."_

"R-reject them? What's that mean?" Marlene asked.

"It means they go to a bad place called hell and they stay there forever and ever and get tortured." Denzel said turning to Marlene with a grin. The little girl began bawling at his comment and Denzel was taken aback, and started frantically trying to comfort her.

"_You two,"_ Aeris shook her head and wrapped her arms around both children, holding them close, _"I believe you both can do this, I believe that you can make them better people."_

Denzel frowned and hugged Marlene, "Tifa won't like them either! Neither will Cloud or anyone else!"

"Yes they will!" Marlene sniffled.

"_That's right,"_ Aeris said much to Denzel's disappointment, _"Because you two will set such a good example of forgiveness, won't you?"_

Denzel pouted fitfully but nodded despite his expression. Marlene sniffled a 'yes Aeris' and hugged Denzel tighter.

"_Good then. I'm so proud of you two, I know you'll do a great job."_ Aeris smiled and kissed the top of their heads affectionately before standing up.

"They will come when I leave." She turned and began walking away, "I'll be watching alright?" with that said she disappeared in a familiar white flash and both children were left in the flowers. Both began looking around for the three promised men but found nothing. The rain began gushing into the church again and both children let out yelps, scuttling back to the benches.

"Man I wish she woulda told us that was gonna happen!" Denzel muttered.

"Are we gonna get sick?" Marlene asked.

"I dunno, probably not." He told her with a nod. Marlene and Denzel slowly wrung out their clothes and hair to try dry off a little more but it didn't seem to help much. Eventually they curled up together in the corner of the bench again and, despite the storm becoming more and more violent, they fell asleep.

XXX

"Denzel! Marlene!" Tifa cried desperately throughout the building. No answer, only the echo of her words by the other children helping her look for the two.

_This isn't happening; they wouldn't go off on their own! Would they?_

Tifa had searched throughout the entire bar with the help of the children and Cloud who had arrived in the middle of her panic. As soon as he'd entered the bar the rain had started up again, more violently than Tifa had seen it before. The rain kept her from looking outside for the children, however, and she kept hoping they'd simply fallen asleep in a little corner somewhere, or perhaps she missed them, or perhaps they were hiding, playing a game.

"I've looked all over, I couldn't find them." Cloud announced, emerging from the door leading to the basement.

"Auntie Tifa! They're not upstairs!" one of the children cried down. Tifa's maternal instincts were driving her crazy; the only place they could be now was outside and the rain was pelting so hard that it would be impossible to see anything let alone try get through it.

"We have to go find them!" Tifa wailed.

"Calm down! It's ok, you said you thought they went outside? They're smart kids, they probably found shelter before the rain got too bad." Cloud tried to reassure her.

"What if they didn't? Or what if they got kidnapped? I _told_ them I'd take them out _later_! Why don't they listen!" Tifa let out an overwhelmed groan and flopped into a chair. Cloud sat across from her and tried again to calm her down; "Where were you going to take them again? The church right? That's probably where they are, they'll be ok."

"I know, I know…." Tifa muttered rubbing her temples; if Barret found this out, she was going to be in _big_ trouble, she knew they were probably in the church, she knew they were probably ok, but they would be cold and possibly wet. They might get sick and if that happened, Barret would definitely question their whereabouts. Tifa had only wanted to take them to the church once, that wasn't supposed to do any harm, but she hadn't even taken them and the situation was already getting out of hand.

XXX

A/N: Hahaha I'm a spaaaz. Ok, lemme know what you think of the first chappie eh? Denzel seems dedicated to Marlene (and vice versa) kind of like an older brother (or boyfriend, but not in this story XD). Okie, lemme know if anyone is OOC, I hate OOC'ing stuff so help catch my blasphemy early on so I don't get too used to writing a character a certain way XD. I don't think Denzel ever knew anything about Aeris other than what people told him right? Yeaaah……well, our favorite pretty boys appear in the next chappie if this gets any reviews XD, whelp, hope you guys liked it! R & R and flames welcome.


	2. Second Impressions as Good as the First

Can't Forget

Chapter 2: Second Impressions as Good as the First

Rating: PG-13

By: Vampire Toy

A/N: Yeah, so I worked hard to get this up for you guys since I didn't reintroduce the boys in the last chappie, but here they are in all their glory, hope you enjoy!

XXX

"Marlene."

Marlene groaned and cuddled deeper into the warm grip she was in.

"Marlene." The voice cooed again.

"Denzel, I'm sleepy." She murmured clinging to his shirt.

"Denzel? No, I'm much better looking."

Marlene's eyes flew open in a startle and she jerked her head up to see a familiar silver haired man staring down at her.

"Kadaj!" she squeaked, looking around and finding herself cradled in his arms. Her eyes searched the area around her and found they were still in the church sitting on a bench, but she couldn't see Denzel or the other two brothers anywhere.

"Where's Denzel? And Loz? And Yazoo? They're coming back too right? I thought they were coming back too!" Marlene said wriggling to get free.

"They're here! Calm down and stop moving your kicking me!" Kadaj wrapped his arms around her even tighter to hold her still and she slowly calmed when she saw Loz sit up with a yawn in the bench in front of them.

"What's all the commotion? Did she not want to see you after all?" Loz sneered. Kadaj scowled at his older brother and stood up in a huff.

"She is very happy to see me." Kadaj muttered still holding Marlene and walking away from Loz towards the entrance of the church.

"Kadaj! Where's Denzel and Yazoo?"

"You haven't even said hello to me!" Kadaj snit childishly. Marlene sighed and furrowed her eyebrows; "Hello Kadaj, where are Denzel and Yazoo?"

Kadaj smirked and placed her on the ground, squatting in front of her; "Tell me how much you missed me."

"Marlene!" a familiar voice cried. Marlene blinked and turned in time to see Denzel deliver a good kick to Kadaj's face, making the silver haired man fumble backwards in surprise.

"You brat!"

"Stay away form her you freak!" Denzel grabbed her immediately and pushed her behind him protectively.

"Well there he is." Yazoo said walking into the church.

"Denzel it's ok!"

"No way! That lady must've made a mistake, these guys are evil!" Denzel growled.

"Well evil eats small children so I guess I'll start with you!" Kadaj snarled lunging at Denzel but was caught on each side by his brothers to restrain him.

"Where were you hiding? I'm sure I looked everywhere, it couldn't have been in the church." Yazoo said nonchalantly as if Kadaj _wasn't_ writhing angrily in his grip.

"Why does it matter? Just take your brother and go away!" Denzel yelled, pushing Marlene back further.

"Denzel! They won't hurt us!"

"He almost attacked me!" the bronze haired boy pointed accusingly at Kadaj.

"He didn't mean to! Tell him you didn't mean to Kadaj!" Marlene looked pleadingly at the slowly calming Kadaj.

"Hmmf, listen kid, if you kick me I'm gonna kick you back so don't go blaming me for something stupid you brought on yourself!" Kadaj yanked his arms from his brothers' grips and brushed himself off.

"So you two are helping us or something?" Loz asked mostly Marlene.

"Yes! We're gonna teach you to be good!" Marlene grinned and dove around Denzel towards the silver haired men.

"We're already 'good'." Kadaj muttered.

"You guys suck." Denzel hissed following closely behind Marlene to keep an eye on the brothers.

"We aren't still sore about that little 'incident' are we?" Loz cooed.

Denzel grit his teeth and Marlene took his hand to calm him down.

"You guys have to be nice to everyone! Denzel too! If your not nice to him then how can he be nice to you?"

"We didn't even know he was here until he knocked over a rotting pillar." Yazoo said somewhat annoyed.

"Huh?" Marlene turned to her friend and he shrugged.

"I woke up before you and saw that the rain stopped and I tried to wake you up but you wouldn't so I went outside to see if Tifa was coming for us. Then I saw bright lights from inside the church so I looked back in and these creeps were there! So I hid and watched them to make sure they didn't hurt you."

"Well I'm ok! You're ok and they're ok too! We should go home and tell Tifa." Marlene nodded with a smile.

"Can we leave them here while we do that?" Denzel asked.

"No."

XXX

Tifa and Cloud set out immediately when the rain stopped and began looking for the two missing children. they finally made it to Aeris' church and Tifa ran inside expectantly.

"Marlene? Denzel? Guys are you here? Come on! It's Tifa…" the black haired woman looked around and walked a little further in when she heard no response.

"Denzel….Marlene….?" her feet pattered quickly over the wet floorboards as she searched around the flowerbed and the benches, but still she found no sign of them.

"Marlene! Denzel! We're not mad ok?" Cloud called out from behind Tifa.

"Did they even get this far?" she asked as a slight pang of dread washed over her.

"Maybe they already started back?" Cloud suggested, "There are many ways to get to here from the bar and back."

Tifa nodded lightly and turned around, "Let's check home then, if they're not there though…"

"It's ok, they'll be there." Cloud smiled, "You worry too much Tifa."

XXX

"Tifa! Auntie Tifa!" Marlene looked around the seemingly empty bar but found no sign of her favorite babysitter. No one was answering her calls so she assumed the other children were gone too but where they were she wasn't sure.

"I dunno where she is." Marlene looked up at Kadaj with a shrug.

"Well in the meantime, show me where your room is." Kadaj said, pulling Marlene lightly by the hand.

"Ok, come on guys!" Marlene called back at the three boys trotting behind them.

"Don't show him your room!" Denzel huffed.

"Aww come on, they're probably gonna have to share with me anyway, there aren't a lot of rooms here." Marlene pout.

"No! Marlene, you don't even live here! You can't expect Tifa to take them in!" Denzel tried again.

"Where do you live?" Kadaj asked Marlene. She grinned and Denzel slapped a hand over her mouth before she could say anything else.

"If we're not staying here then where will we go?" Yazoo asked looking over the assortment of glasses and liquors behind the bar counter.

"Is this where Tifa lives? Tifa is that woman you were with when we first met right?" Loz asked strolling aimlessly around the tables and chairs until he saw a few of them were adorned with flowers and started backing away slowly to the bar instead. Marlene pulled Denzel's hand away and turned to Loz.

"Uh…yeah…" she replied slowly, even though she wanted to point out that it wasn't really a 'meeting' but more of a 'forced departure'.

"Can I stay here?" Loz asked.

"Uh…you'll have to ask Tifa, but like Denzel said, I can't ask her to take care of you guys. You'll probably live with me and my dad!"

"So where was that again?" Kadaj asked.

"No!" Denzel slapped a hand over her mouth again and Marlene furrowed her eyebrows at her companion.

"What is this?" Yazoo asked, taking a sniff of a bottle he'd opened.

"That's alcohol! Put it down! We're not allowed to touch that!" Marlene escaped Denzel's grip again and let go of Kadaj's hand, running over to the long haired man who was kneeling behind the counter.

"Close it, put it back! We'll be in a lot of trouble if Tifa catches you with that!"

"It looks good, people drink this right? Alcohol, what kind of alcohol is this?" Yazoo asked taking a swig.

"NOOO!" Marlene shrieked causing Denzel and the others to run over.

"GACK!" Yazoo spit the bitter fluid onto the floor in front of him and made a disgusted face, "_Who_ would drink this!"

"Close it! Close it!" Marlene screamed.

"Ok! Ok! Look it's closed, are you happy?" Yazoo placed the bottle back where he'd found it and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

"How much did you swallow!" Marlene asked nervously.

"I don't know."

"Your really stupid! That stuff is dangerous!" Denzel snapped.

"What? Why? How can it be if people drink it?" Yazoo asked slowly.

"Only adults can drink it! You're not mature enough so you could die!"

"What!" Yazoo stood up.

"Mature enough? We're plenty mature, Yazoo don't worry about it." Kadaj waved his hand nonchalantly.

"Don't touch anything anymore ok? Ask first!" Marlene sighed.

"But that takes a long time, it's easier not to ask." Loz said leaning against the bar.

"No, there are rules in Tifa's house that you have to follow!"

"Rules? For what?" Kadaj asked almost disgustedly.

"Stuff you can and can't do! It's part of being good! There are some things you can and can't do. So if your not sure then ask ok?" Marlene begged.

"This sounds like it requires a lot of work…" Kadaj narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

"Kadaaaaj!" Marlene whined.

"Hnn, I'll try but if it's too hard I don't want to anymore."

"Good then you can go to…er…wherever it is you go when the lifestream doesn't want you!" Denzel nod confidently.

"Nenenene, it's probably better than a never ending flower field." Kadaj said mimicking Denzel's voice.

"No it's not!" Marlene tugged Kadaj's arm with a pout.

"Right…well where do you live?" Kadaj asked again.

"Would you STOP asking that already!" Denzel yelled grabbing Marlene.

"What's your problem? I'm gonna go live with her anyway!"

"Where am I going?" Yazoo asked.

"I'm staying here." Loz announced.

"You have to ask Tifa." Marlene told him.

"You're not going to live with Marlene, Cloud and Tifa are gonna tear you apart!" Denzel told Kadaj with a sneer.

"Is anyone listening to me?" Yazoo asked.

"I'm charming right? She'll let me stay." Loz smoothed back his hair.

"Ummm…" Marlene wasn't sure how to reply to _that_. She'd heard of princes being charming but Loz wasn't a prince; she didn't think he would be a very charming one anyway, then again she wasn't really sure what being charming meant.

"I'll rip you apart! Watch how you speak to me!" Kadaj snarled at Denzel, arching over him threateningly.

"I'm not afraid of you!" Denzel said holding up his fists readily.

"You didn't answer my question…" Loz eyed Marlene suspiciously.

"Come on! You can't tell me no one's hearing me..." Yazoo whined.

"Guuuys!" Marlene pulled at Kadaj and Denzel to try stop them form getting into a brawl and to avoid answering Loz's question.

"I can't believe no one can hear me!" Yazoo huffed.

"Marlene? Denzel?" a female voice called from the doorway. Everyone turned to see Tifa and Cloud walking in and then freezing at the sight of their visitors.

"They're…back…" Cloud mumbled in disbelief.

"Cloud, we have to get them away form the children…" Tifa whispered.

"Ok…on three we go at them, it has to be a surprise or the children could get hurt."

"Yeah."

"I can hear you…"Loz said with a smile as he stood with his face hovering over Tifa's.

"Huh?" Tifa blinked and shrieked when she saw how close Loz was, punching him in the face until he flew back into the bar.

Cloud dove at the other two then, both of whom were already in their fight stances.

"Tifa! Cloud! Guys no! Stop!" Marlene cried.

"Marlene! Denzel! Get out of here!" Tifa yelled kicking Loz into a table. He jumped up quickly and skidded away form the table brushing off his clothes and hoping there wasn't any pollen on them. Tifa blinked and smirked, grabbing a handful of flowers and aiming them at him threateningly.

"Oh come on, that's low…" Loz said holding up his hands defensively.

"Kidnapping children is low!" She yelled and dove at him, stuffing the flowers in his face.

"GAAAAH! NOOOOO! IT BURNS!" Loz cried stumbling away with Tifa hot on his heels.

"Not so tough without your sword." Yazoo cooed at Cloud as he kicked him back.

"And you? Where's your gun?"

"Aeris didn't give those back." Kadaj said mournfully punching Cloud from behind.

"What? Did you say Aer-AGH!" Cloud fumbled through the tables and chairs, struggling to regain his balance.

"It seems that we have you at a disadvantage." Kadaj smirked as he and Yazoo stood on either side of Cloud.

"Wait, when did you see Aeris?" Cloud asked as he wiped the trickle of blood from his lip.

"Well if you forgot already, we used to be dead."

XXX

A/N: (Cough) ok so I'm not good at fight scenes and Loz's pollen allergy probably isn't 'that' bad…or maybe it is but still….er…yeah, so the weirdness ensues! Yeah stupid end for a chapter but eh. Hope you enjoyed, let me know if I go OOC, R&R please, flames welcome.


	3. Basement Creepers

Can't Forget

Chapter 3: Basement Creepers

Rating: PG-13

By: Vampire Toy

A/N: I forgot to answer some questions last chapter so I'll do that at the end of this chapter, I hope you enjoy it!

XXX

"A-Aeris spoke to you?" Cloud asked straightening up slowly.

"Yeah." Kadaj said with annoyance twisting into his expression.

"How exactly did you guys get back?" Cloud asked.

"Aeris brought them back!" Marlene wailed from behind the bar where she and Denzel were hiding.

"That's pretty much it…" Yazoo said twirling his hair on one finger and giving a bored yawn.

"Why?" the blonde asked softly in shock.

"Because they have to be good now!" Marlene yelled again.

Cloud blinked and turned to Tifa who continued to beat whatever life Aeris had given Loz, out of him.

"Tifa! Tifa wait!" Cloud rushed past his two opponents and pulled back the angry raven-haired woman.

"Tifa! Tifa did you hear? Aeri-"

"I heard." Tifa said with a tired huff, letting her shoulders slack.

"So why'd you keep hitting me?" Loz cried, crawling up behind a table to make sure there was something between him and the furious bartender.

Tifa shrugged off the question and walked briskly over to where the children were crouched, Yazoo and Kadaj hurriedly making room for her to get past.

"Did Aeris talk to you?" Tifa asked kneeling in front of the two.

"Yes." They replied simultaneously.

"What exactly did she say?" Tifa asked, still slightly angry at her new company and even angrier at how they came back.

"She said the lifestream didn't want them." Denzel piped.

"She said we have to make them good so the lifestream will take them back or they'll go someplace else….someplace _bad_." Marlene's eyes widened at her last words and Tifa's expression softened into a stressed frown.

"That's so strange." Cloud mumbled from above them, "Aeris knows how hard we worked to get rid of them, I don't see why she'd let them have another chance, she wouldn't put that burden on us."

Marlene shrunk sheepishly into one of the spaces behind the bar counter and Tifa sighed.

"Why don't you explain everything to me and we'll try work this out." Tifa said gently. Marlene nodded and Denzel shrugged offhandedly.

"YOU three can wait outside." Tifa stood up and made shooing motions towards the door.

"What? Its cold and wet outside!" Kadaj pout.

"You're tough guys aren't you? You can handle that for a few minutes…..but don't even THINK about leaving because then I'll assume your wreaking havoc and then we'll find you and get rid of you regardless." Tifa told them sternly.

"Hey, since you beat me up, can I stay inside?" Loz asked with a grin.

"No."

With great complaint and fuss, all three brothers were shoved outside in front of a bar window so Tifa could keep an eye on them while she got all the facts down.

"Why'd they have to go outside? They might get sick." Marlene frowned looking towards the window mournfully. Tifa sighed and smiled weakly.

"Until we know everything, we still can't trust them sweetie."

"Told you." Denzel muttered, but Marlene didn't seem to hear him as a big grin spread over her face and she waved at the window. Tifa turned and glared at Kadaj who was waving and making motions at the door. He slowly lowered his hands and glared back with a pout.

"Anyway….." Tifa switched places with Marlene to prevent any other distractions, "Are you sure it was Aeris that spoke to you?" Tifa asked. She knew Aeris did that, made random visits, but she was sure if Aeris could do that, others could too. She'd heard that Zack sometimes appeared to Cloud as well, anyone dead could just pop out of no where right?

"Yeah! She had a bow in her hair like mine! Her hair was brown and pretty and her dress was all pink and she had a nice voice." Marlene nodded confidently.

"Alright…then what did she say?" Tifa asked slowly as Cloud kneeled next to her.

"I already told you," Marlene frowned.

"I know but say it again, please."

"She said that the lifestream takes in little kids when they die and Kadaj and Loz and Yazoo are all three so it took them too." Marlene said quickly, "She said that the lifestream only takes good people though and it didn't know what to do with Kadaj and Loz and Yazoo because they were bad but they were three, then she said we could make them good and they would go into the lifestream and everyone would live happily ever after." Marlene finished proudly.

Tifa and Cloud stared silently in shock as Tifa resisted the urge to put her head in her hands while Cloud continued to ponder in confusion.

"Marlene, if what you say is true, did Aeris tell you why she wanted to give them second chances?" the blonde leaned forward curiously.

Marlene shifted her eyes nervously to Denzel then Tifa then she turned to look behind her until Tifa told her to turn back. Tifa knew why, Denzel by now knew why, and Kadaj and his brothers obviously knew why, but Cloud and everyone else didn't. Cloud, one of the many who almost died by the hands of the three brothers, would never think that Marlene would want to give anyone as horrible as the three silver haired men, a second chance.

"Hmmfle….hfmme….fhuu…" Marlene mumbled looking down at her shoes and tucking her hands behind her back.

"What's that?" Cloud asked gently.

"Hnnn." Marlene narrowed her eyes tensely and shrugged as if to say 'you didn't hear me the first time so it's your own fault'.

"Marlene honey could you say that again?" Cloud asked not catching on.

"It's ok Marlene, why don't we talk about the housing arrangements instead?"

"Wait, wait could you tell me? She knows, just let her tell me." Cloud said leaning closer. Marlene's eyes got bigger and her lip began to quiver and Tifa turned to Cloud lightly nudging him to snap him out of his 'mode'.

"Kadaj….Aeris said….and…Loz and Yazoo…." Her voice cracked and tears started to trickle from the corners of her eyes.

"It's ok Marlene you don't have to tell him." Tifa pulled her out of Cloud's gaze and hugged her tightly while Cloud shot her a puzzled look.

"I think this is enough chatting!" Kadaj said walking into the bar with a appalled look on his face. Tifa narrowed her eyes and was about to give him and his two following brothers a threatening speech when Kadaj grabbed Marlene from her arms and walked to the other side of the room.

"Hey!" Tifa and Denzel yelled simultaneously as Cloud jumped up ready for another fight.

"He won't hurt her ya know!" Yazoo crossed his arms and leaned at an awkward angle, his hip swung to one side as his upper body seemed to strain away from it.

Tifa raised an eyebrow at the long haired man and shook her head, "I don't care, we still can't trust you guys, you need to earn our trust before we let you do anything on your own!"

"No really," Loz said also giving Yazoo a strange look, "Kadaj really likes Marlene." he grinned hopefully.

"How do you know?" Tifa asked even though she knew from the way that Marlene had constantly talked about them, _something_ had to be going on.

"He told me!" Loz nodded.

"_Many_ times." Yazoo rolled his eyes and staggered over to a barstool flopping down and almost falling off but quickly catching himself.

"Are you ok?" Marlene asked peeking worriedly over Kadaj's shoulder as the short haired brothers tried not to laugh.

"I'm ok." Yazoo waved his hand in the air.

"Ugh…well…listen up guys, the three of you will have to room together in the basement tonight." Tifa said wearily.

"What? Why can't we sleep in a room?" Loz asked.

"There aren't anymore rooms, there are orphans that stay here sometimes and they fill up the rooms." Tifa explained, turning to Cloud, "Would you show them where the basement is while I get some sheets?"

"Can't we share rooms with the orphans?" Loz asked.

"We're orphans too ya know." Kadaj said defiantly, holding Marlene tighter.

"You don't have our trust, if you can prove your willing to change we might let you room upstairs." Tifa said sternly.

"Are you sure it's a good idea to let them stay here at _all_?" Cloud whispered.

"We need to keep an eye on them, it's better if they stay here." Tifa whispered back.

"I'll room here tonight also." The blonde said a little louder to brush off the anxious mood their whispering might have caused. Tifa nodded and turned back to the three brothers. Loz smiled and waved at her, Kadaj was still holding and talking to Marlene and Denzel looked ready to kick the back of his knees in, and Yazoo had fallen onto the floor and didn't seem conscious.

_What the hell is the matter with these creeps?_ Tifa thought with a slightly amused face as she went over to Yazoo and threw him over her shoulder.

"Is he ok?" She asked his brothers.

"If he's breathing I'd say he's doing pretty well." Kadaj smirked.

Tifa huffed at Kadaj's answer and walked a few steps before turning and motioning to the two remaining silver haired men.

"Cloud, why don't you put the kids to bed instead? I'll get these guys to the basement." Tifa sighed motioning to the semi-dead Yazoo.

"But-"

"The extra sheets and pillows are in the hall closet by Marlene and Denzel's room, bring those when your done." Tifa added, cutting him off quickly.

Cloud grit his teeth lightly, showing his disapproval but never voicing it.

"Alright, come on you two, bed time." Cloud motioned for Denzel and Marlene to follow and Denzel did, but Marlene was held steadfast in Kadaj's arms.

"Put her down." Tifa said putting her free hand on her hip.

"She want's to stay with us, you know, to help us adjust to our new surroundings." Kadaj waved his had nonchalantly across the room to emphasize.

Without a word Cloud grabbed Marlene out of Kadaj's arms and simply walked away with Kadaj pausing and then throwing angry words and fist motions in the direction on the blonde.

"Now that your ready, follow me."

XXX

Getting them to settle down was yet another job Tifa didn't want to put up with, but they were so childish that she almost felt she had to spank them and put them in time out. She resisted, however, and eventually got them to settle down a little when Cloud came and helped her set up the makeshift floor beds. At one point Tifa had to use 'physical persuasion' when Loz and Kadaj decided to play 'catch the body' with the still out-cold Yazoo.

Finally they were all sitting on their own beds and looked as if they were becoming tired. To Tifa's relief, all three had laid down by the time she and Cloud went back upstairs.

"They're like little kids." Cloud muttered sleepily.

"Yeah, I'm almost beginning to believe they're three." Tifa mumbled. Marlene had said they were three but Tifa was a bit skeptical; three-year-olds with twenty-year-old bodies and a boatload of hormones were hardly proper match-ups. As far as she was concerned, Loz was a creep who was too eager to hang around, Kadaj was a deranged spoiled brat, and Yazoo was just weird.

_Probably because he's the middle child_, Tifa had concluded.

"What are we going to do?" Cloud asked, snapping Tifa from her daze.

"Right now, I really don't care. Let's sleep on it and think about it in the morning." Tifa yawned. She really should have been more worried, but the three demons took orders from Tifa and Cloud pretty well considering how epic their battles against one another had been. Cloud didn't take that into consideration, however, and tried to persist the topic but Tifa eventually pushed him into his guestroom and locked herself in her own room to prevent a two-in-the-morning-worry-spasm from Cloud.

She needed her rest if she was going to do anything at all to solve this situation.

XXX

Marlene looked out the window quietly from her bed and sighed. She found it hard to sleep when her three friends had to sleep in the basement. She'd been in the basement before, it had two parts to it but Marlene thought both were scary. One was where Tifa stored a lot of the liquors, extra tables, and chairs for the bar. The other, the one she assumed Kadaj and his brothers were in, was just a dreary concrete space, the corners packed tightly with boxes, the furnace, and a singular bulb dangling from the ceiling. Marlene went in there a few times with Tifa to help her carry things and a few times with Denzel to play hide and seek with the other kids.

The few times she went in alone, she would notice how the bulb would flicker and dim whenever she heard a noise coming from the dark corners of the chamber and how the stairs would creek even when no one was on them. She even noticed how the door between the liquor room and the main basement room would creak and hang ominously ajar; never enough for her to see inside and but possibly enough for someone or _something_ to look out and get a clear view of her under the lone bulb. She didn't like it at all and she didn't think Kadaj, Yazoo, and Loz would either. Besides, it was cold and the furnace would make a lot of noise, especially during the winter when it was used more often.

She turned away from the window and looked at Denzel in his bed next to hers; sound asleep. Marlene sat up slowly and swung her little legs over the side of her bed onto the icy wooden floor, tiptoeing out quickly. Most of the other children were sound asleep, tired form having helped to look for the two youngest members of Seventh Heaven earlier that day.

Marlene flipped her untied hair out of her face and over her shoulder as she softly closed the bedroom door behind her. She wasn't quite sure what she planned on doing, but she couldn't just leave them in that place all by themselves. She stood in the middle of the second floor hall for a few moments, putting her hands on her hips as she looked around, trying to make up her mind as her eyes adjusted to the darkness.

I'm sure Tifa would get mad if I tried bringing them upstairs but if I bring them extra pillows and sheets then that's ok, right? She won't even know.

Marlene grinned at her sneaky plan and crept quietly to the hall closet, taking out as many pillows and sheets as she could carry. She hobbled downstairs slowly, stopping on every step to peek around the mass of cloth in her arms to make sure she didn't miss the next step. She finally managed to trot down without fail and maneuvered quickly around the tables, hurriedly winding through the back of the bar in the kitchen area and stopping in front of the basement door.

She reached up for the knob but couldn't reach with all the things in her arms. She tried again with her other arm, straining and letting out a small grunt of frustration when she realized she'd have to put her things down. Just as she was about to do so, however, the doorknob turned on its own and a muffled voice began speaking on the other end.

"See, I told you she left it unlocked-" a familiar voice rang. Marlene looked up in surprise and Yazoo blinked, looking down with equal surprise.

"Uhh…"

"What are you standing there for? Go!" Kadaj hissed behind the long haired brother.

"Yazoo, Kadaj….what are you guys doing up?" Marlene asked in a small voice.

"Marlene?" Kadaj peeked around Yazoo and Loz's head poked up above Kadaj's.

"Hey Marlene!" Loz grinned, "Is Tifa up too?"

"No…it's late, you guys should be in bed." She said slowly. All of them shifted uncomfortably and Loz coughed nervously as Yazoo scratched the back of his head guiltily.

There was an awkward silence in which Marlene wished she didn't come down and the brother's wished they had better timing.

"I…brought you some more pillows and stuff." Marlene mumbled looking down sadly. Yazoo smiled sheepishly and Kadaj frowned at the face she was making.

"Uh…thanks for the sheets." Loz waved from the back.

"Your welcome."

"Come now, why are you up?" Kadaj pushed past Yazoo and swung her into his arms, causing Marlene to drop the load of fabric and almost causing Yazoo to loose his balance.

"Get that Yazoo," Kadaj nodded towards the pile and walked back down the stairs to the basement. Yazoo grunted, rubbing his right temple roughly before stuffing the two pillows and three sheets under his arms and plodding after his two brothers.

Kadaj sat down in the middle of the three makeshift beds, propping Marlene in his lap facing him. Yazoo placed down the linens as he and Loz sat on either side of Kadaj.

"You look so sad, why is that? Are you tired? You're the one who should be asleep." Kadaj brushed a strand of Marlene's loose hair behind her ear and waited for a response.

"I thought you guys would be cold." She shrugged looking down at her hands. Marlene knew they were probably sneaking out and she had somewhat expected them to be a little rebellious in some things, but she had hoped at the beginning they would at least try to be good. They wanted to go to a good place didn't they? Not the bad place Denzel had talked about.

"We were very cold, thank you." Kadaj pushed his forehead against hers to force her eyes to meet his. Marlene blinked slowly and blushed, making Kadaj smirk.

"Ugh… Marlene…" Yazoo pined lightly, tugging the hem of her pajama gown as he broke Kadaj and Marlene's little moment.

"Eh…Yazoo?" she turned and tilted her head worriedly when she saw Yazoo holding onto his head in pain, "Are you ok?"

"I want this pain to go away." He replied.

"Did it just start hurting?" Marlene bounced from Kadaj's lap into Yazoo's and put her hand to the man's forehead.

"No." he closed his eyes and furrowed his eyebrows, rubbing both temples this time, "We were going up stairs to get medicine."

Marlene paused then beamed; they weren't sneaking out to run away after all!

Yazoo grinned lightly at her response and she bounded from his lap and halfway up the stairs; "I'll go get you medicine ok?" she turned and continued up, the sound of her bare feet echoing as she made her way through the kitchen.

She eventually came scuttling back down the stairs with an armful of medication and a glass of water that would occasionally swash dangerously close to the rim of the cup.

"I didn't know what kinda headache you had exactly…so I brought down a bunch of stuff." Marlene dropped the pill bottles and set down the water more carefully.

"Do I take all of them?" Yazoo asked looking dolefully at the many brands.

"No silly, that's dangerous!" Marlene smiled, "Tell me exactly how your head feels and I'll get the right kind."

"Uh…it feels bad." Yazoo tried.

"Umm….more specific….like…er…does your neck hurt too? Is it a throbbing pain or a migraine?" she asked reading off the pill labels.

"What's a migraine?" Loz asked.

"A super big nasty headache." Marlene nodded.

"I think I have that." Yazoo declared.

"I think you're a pussy and you shouldn't be taking medicine at all." Kadaj crossed his arms.

"Well Tifa says she gets migraines when Cloud gets whiney." Marlene tried to think of a good descritption for migraines, ignoring Kadaj's comment.

"Umm, I dunno about that." Yazoo mumbled.

"Well here," Marlene handed Yazoo three round tan-colored pills, "This is good for normal headaches, if your head still hurts after umm…" Marlene glanced down at the directions on the Advil bottle, "…an hour or two, then I'll give you the migraine stuff." She smiled.

Yazoo gave a light nod and popped the pills into his mouth, gulping a quick mouthful of water to keep from choking.

"This is ridiculous." Kadaj hissed.

"Does your head hurt too?" Marlene asked innocently.

"No."

"I'm tired." Loz waved his hand in the air as he flopped down, rolling away from the commotion.

"Oh!" Marlene got up and grabbed one of the extra sheets she'd brought down, scuttling over to Loz and draping it over him. Loz blinked and gave her a questioning look.

"It's winter so it'll get colder." She said tucking him in gently.

"Marlene!" a voice hissed.

"Go away." Kadaj immediately hissed back.

"Denzel!" Marlene said with a surprise. The bronze haired boy bounded down the stairs and skipped the last few, running over to her and pulling her aside.

"Why are you down here? We'll get in trouble if Tifa catches us!" he whispered in hopes that the others wouldn't hear. Marlene bit her lip and nudged Denzel slightly towards the three brothers.

"They're cold, and Yazoo's head hurts!" she whispered back.

Denzel looked disapprovingly over at the three men who only stared back in confusion.

"Are you done?" he asked finally.

"No, I still…" Marlene strained for something else to do, there had to be something, she wanted to help them, she wanted to stay with them.

"You guys can get to bed on your own can't you?" Denzel turned to them again.

"Of course, can't you?" Kadaj smirked.

"Ok then." Marlene interrupted before Denzel could reply, "Goodnight guys! I hope your head feels better Yazoo."

Yazoo nodded and flopped down to go to sleep.

Denzel grit his teeth and grabbed Marlene's hand, almost dragging her behind him as he dashed up the steps.

"…how obnoxious." Kadaj muttered when they'd left.

"We don't have their trust." Yazoo mumbled closing his eyes.

"Obviously." Kadaj slumped down on his back and stared angrily at the dingy basement roof.

"It's ok Kadaj we'll gain their trust, even that boy will come to like us." Loz rolled over to face his brother, "They'll see we're trying hard." He yawned.

The younger brother let out a scoff and smirked; "That's not my concern."

XXX

Marlene remained quiet after Denzel pulled her out of the basement, even when he started locking the door and pushing chairs in front of it, she didn't utter a sound. Earlier that night he'd told her that they would run away and leave her looking like an idiot. He'd told her not to try going to them because they would only disappoint her and he was almost right. Almost.

They had almost run away, but Yazoo promised they weren't really running away. Loz was being good and he went to sleep before anyone else. Kadaj…. Kadaj liked her as much as she liked him, she knew he wouldn't have left anyway.

She couldn't quite understand why Denzel kept getting so upset at her for trying to help them. It made her angry but she kept quite because she didn't want to hurt his feelings. He was just looking out for her right?

Denzel grabbed her wrist when he'd finished blockading the basement entrance and pulled her up the stairs to their room.

"Your dad is gonna get really angry Marlene! Especially when he sees them!" Denzel said in a low voice as not to wake anyone else.

"He'll understand."

"Understand what?" Denzel pulled her into the room and shut the door quietly; "Understand that these freaks are 'really' trying to change?"

"Yes." She murmured.

"You know, the only reason he'd even try understand is because you're his kid, but the others, they fought with Cloud and stuff….they won't like this and they won't understand like 'daddy' does!"

Marlene yanked her hand away from him and pout; he was getting too worked up and she didn't want to hear what he would say if he got really into his argument.

"We should sleep." She mumbled walking around him to her bed. Denzel stood silently for a moment and clutched his fists by his sides. He turned back to Marlene who had already crawled into bed and was cuddling into the sheets. He sighed and trudged to his own bunk, climbing in without a word.

XXX

A/N: Explanation time!

Why didn't the pretty men come after Aeris left? Aeris said they'd come after she left she just didn't say 'when' exactly after she left, could've been an hour or a day etc. as for whiny Yazoo (and really girly Yazoo in the beginning of this chappie), I don't believe it's part of his personality and I didn't mean for him to sound overly whiny but keep in mind Yazoo _did_ take a nice swig of a very strong alcohol XD (either that or his tolerance is low). But no worries his whininess was toned down this chappie, because Kadaj is the whiner of the family and Yazoo is now sober. Yay Yazoo! Also, I couldn't do this when Marlene was older because the lifestream would have probably destroyed the three brothers by then.

Ok, time for me to ask some questions of you!

Other possible pairings?

Who knows a lot about Sephiroth and wants to tell me about him in an email? XD I know a bit, but I'm not comfortable enough to put him in the story yet…

Anyone being OOC?

Thanks for reading, R & R please, flames welcome.


	4. Fake Smile

Can't Forget

Chapter 4: Fake Smile

Rating: PG-13

By: Vampire Toy

A/N: WOOOOOO An update, I'm happy to have converted so many souls to this wondrous coupling XD hahaha thanks for your support guys! I appreciate all your comments and they all motivate me to get the chapters out as quickly as I can!

XXX

After moving all the chairs and tables, Tifa finally managed to unlock and open the basement door. Why the tables, chairs, and locks were there, she wasn't sure, but she figured Cloud might've shackled up the three in an anxiety fit.

_He needs to learn not to worry so damn much_; she thought with a sigh. She'd gotten a decent night's rest seeing as her bar was closed on Sundays and the children didn't yet know about their new arrivals so they went to bed without too much of a fuss. Tifa didn't want to think about how everyone would react today, however, when they saw the men, much less interact with them.

"Wake up!" Tifa cried throwing open the basement door.

She received a groan, a gurgle, and a snore in response and rolled her eyes. She plodded downstairs clapping her hands together to stir the still sleeping men.

"WAKE UP!" She cried standing over them.

"Keep it DOWN!" Kadaj yelled, not bothering to roll and face her.

Tifa was about to throw him a 'good morning' kick when she noticed an assortment of pills scattered near Yazoo's bedside.

"Yazoo…" she started slowly, crouching down to examine the bottles; "Yazoo!" she shook his shoulder with her free hand.

"Hnnn," he rolled over and opened his eyes slowly, "Mother…?"

Tifa paused a moment at his question but quickly shook her head, "Not quite."

Yazoo's eyes shot open at the realization that it was the martial artist bar tender in front of him.

"I'm sorry!" he sat up clinging to the covers and rubbing the side of his head feebly.

"It's…ok, hey listen…" she rolled over a bottle in her hands, "Where'd you get this?"

Yazoo was silent; unsure of which answer would bring less of a punishment.

"Did you take any?" Tifa tried again.

"Three." He pointed to the Advil bottle.

"Oh." Tifa was slightly relieved that he'd taken a safer brand but not completely satisfied with the answer, "Why did you take them?" she asked picking up all the bottles.

"My head was hurting."

"Alright, but never take anything without asking me first." She said sternly, standing up with her arms full of various headache drugs. Yazoo nodded, happy that he didn't have to answer her first question and even happier to have avoided a beating, as he was sure she'd easily deal him or his brothers a painful one.

"OK! Listen up! You guys can only come upstairs one at a time in the mornings alright? There's only one shower open for you guys and it's the last room on your left at the end of the hall upstairs. After you've showered, I've laid out some old clothes for you so I can wash the one's your wearing now. Maybe later we'll get you new clothes but until then you'll have to wear Cloud's old one's." Tifa finished.

"What about food?" Loz asked, fully awake now.

"When all three of you are finished and you've come back into the basement, I'll send someone down with food." Tifa said walking upstairs again.

"Wait, why can't we come eat upstairs?" Kadaj asked sitting up.

"No room."

"But-"

"Those are the rules." Tifa told them abruptly, "And remember, ask before you take something, even for headaches. You guy's obviously aren't familiar with all the types of medication and we don't want you getting yourself killed." Tifa motioned to the multiple bottles and packets in her arms.

"Hnn." Kadaj shrugged, "Isn't that what you want?" he sneered.

Tifa shot him a glare and walked upstairs without a reply, shutting the door behind her.

Kadaj immediately turned angrily to his longer haired brother.

"_My head was hurting_!" Kadaj pined mockingly, "You shouldn't have taken the medication in the first place! You were out cold!"

"My head DID hurt." Yazoo replied solemnly, resisting the urge to tell his brother that he'd only pretended to be out cold to get a decent nights rest.

"So we're not leaving anymore…?" Loz began, slowly making his way upstairs.

"My head still hurts!" Yazoo hissed again, "I could be sick, we need to stay."

"What? You're not strong enough to handle it?" Kadaj glared.

"Umm I'm gonna go shower first ok?" Loz pointed towards the door. When he didn't get a response he took it as an agreement and continued up quickly and quietly.

"Well, what if its something you could catch?" Yazoo asked lying down with his hands behind his head.

"Then I'll deal with it."

"I'm sure." Yazoo murmured under his breath.

"What was that?" Kadaj asked cocking his head as his eyes flared angrily.

"Nothing." Yazoo rolled over away from his younger brother.

"Hnn." Kadaj narrowed his eyes and turned away from Yazoo also, standing and stretching before making his way upstairs also.

"You…can't go up, Loz is already upstairs." Yazoo said turning slightly when he heard the creak of the steps.

There was no response other than a defiant opening and shutting of the door.

XXX

"Stop playing with your food, Marlene." Tifa said turning to the little girl who was staring sadly down at the plate of eggs she'd been mutilating all morning.

"I'm not hungry Auntie Tifa." She mumbled putting the fork down next to her plate. Tifa sighed and put down her glass of orange juice. The little brunette had been begging all morning to go keep the SHM company for breakfast, but Tifa wouldn't allow it. She was still nervous about even having them in the house, there was no way she'd leave them alone with a child. She turned to Cloud who had been staring out the window all morning in a daze.

"Well, it's been a rough morning, why don't you and Denzel go change while I take a shower?" Tifa smiled wearily. Marlene nodded with a sad pout and Denzel huffed, rushing up ahead of Marlene before she turned to follow.

"This isn't safe." Cloud mumbled when the two children were gone. Tifa looked around at the empty kitchen; the other orphans were older than Denzel and Marlene and usually went out for the day to hang out or run errands for Tifa. Cloud and her would have to handle the three brothers on their own, her only problem was she didn't know _how_. Even if Aeris had truly sent them back, which was probably the only reasonable explanation, Tifa found it difficult to keep from snapping at the three Sephiroth-clones.

After all the hurt Sephiroth had caused, there just _had_ to be more of him. These three caused more trouble than they were worth when they first showed up and now it was suddenly forgiven?

"Tifa?"

"Oh." She snapped form her daze and cleared her throat, nodding in response to what Cloud had said earlier, "Well, I know that already…..this isn't safe at all….but there's no where else to put them."

"I know, but I was saying we should secure the area they're in to keep them there." Cloud looked at the stressed martial artist.

"Hmm…" Tifa sighed and made her way to the stairs before pausing and turning to look at Cloud through the doorway; "What reason do they have to leave anyway? It almost seems like we'll have a lot more trouble getting them out."

XXX

Loz was happy to feel the warmth of the shower and closed his eyes peacefully; he hadn't been allowed to enjoy simple things like that when they were looking for mother. Aeris had told them before they came back to earth, that mother was gone now. Kadaj hadn't believed her and had even gotten angry at the suggestion. Loz could understand his younger brother's reaction; it was very much how he had felt on the inside even if he didn't physically show it like his little brother had.

How could it be that someone so powerful was now gone? Someone they loved more than anything, even though she was someone none of them had ever seen before.

Not to mention the fact that at first, all three had thought Aeris was mother, but she wasn't. That was a disappointment big enough to drive Kadaj to continue the search.

Sometimes Loz wanted to ask his brother what he was looking for….he sure as hell didn't know.

"Hmm hmmm hmm…"

Loz's eyebrows furrowed and he opened his eyes, listening carefully.

"Hmm hmmm hmm…"

Was that…..humming? Singing? Someone was singing?

He looked around; unsure of where the hell it could be coming from; how was it he could hear it in the shower?

"Hmm hmmm hmm….."

Loz looked up and spotted a vent above the wall of the shower, he listened closely again.

"Hmmm hmm, hmmmm…"

"Tifa?" he called into the vent.

There was abrupt silence on the other end; only the sound of water hitting tile echoed into Loz's ears.

"Tifa!" he called again, a little louder this time. He was sure it was her, he knew her voice well. Female voices were always easy to distinguish for Loz because he was rarely around any females and their voices were unique to him. He knew Tifa and Marlene's voices the best out of all the females he'd met so far, though he hadn't really met many females.

"L….Loz?" a slightly flustered voice piped.

"Tifa! How are you doing?" Loz asked with a grin.

Silence again.

"Tifa?"

"I-I'm in the shower!" she sounded appalled, but Loz didn't catch it.

"Me too!"

More silence.

"Tifa?"

"What!" Tifa snapped irritably; obviously embarrassed knowing someone could hear her sing.

"Are you ok?"

"Why are you talking to me?"

"I just wanted to say good morning! We don't get to talk much."

"Loz, we're both in the shower!" Tifa yelled.

"Yeah, funny isn't it?"

"Not really." Tifa hugged herself as she stood under the water that sprinkled from the showerhead. She wasn't exactly thrilled to be talking to someone while trying to clear her mind, let alone while naked.

"Hey, I have an idea!" Loz said suddenly.

"What…?"

"Why don't I come over there? Then we won't waste water and we can still talk!"

"NO!" Tifa shrieked.

"Why not?"

"Loz…if you don't shut up….I swear I'll come over there and beat you until you're drowning in your own blood!" Tifa hissed.

"Er…I didn't want to fight, the shower is kinda small to fight in…unless yours is bigger…" Loz said sheepishly, trying to ignore the fact that she was threatening him and wouldn't be in the mood for jokes.

He heard the sound of the shower on the other end turn off with a jolt and a cold chill went down his spine.

XXX

Marlene was quick to change and ran out of the room before Denzel was done, slamming right into a tall figure before she could get very far. Marlene grunted when she fell and looked up to find Kadaj staring down at her, equally surprised.

"Marlene, are you alright?"

"Kadaj!" she smiled and hoped up, wrapping her arms around his leg and smiling up at him, "Did you sleep nice?"

The silver haired man nod with a smile and picked her up.

"Why are you up here?" Denzel's voice asked bitterly.

"Why, I'm touring my new home." Kadaj told the boy with a sneer.

"You don't live here." Denzel muttered, his fists clenched.

"Hey! What's he doing here!" a voice piped; Kadaj didn't recognize it and turned slightly to look down at a small pig-tailed girl.

"It's ok! Him and his brothers are nice now." Marlene announced proudly. Kadaj smiled at her but his face fell cold when he looked down at the other little girl.

"He doesn't look nicer…" she mumbled nervously. Kadaj looked off over the girl's head; his eyes almost glazing over immediately.

Then he smiled.

It wasn't a smile any of the three children could understand. Not even the feeling with it was familiar, it wasn't a kind smile, but it wasn't a hateful grimace either. It looked almost as enameled as Kadaj's eyes.

"I'm good now, please don't worry." His voice was different and Marlene began to wriggle uncomfortably.

By now many of the other children were out of their rooms or up from breakfast and all staring at the eerie man before them.

"Children, I am greatly sorry for what I have done to you, I do not ask forgiveness, but know I will never do it again." He stopped then, a look of half surprise over his face before he turned to Marlene with one of his signature smirks. Marlene blinked hesitantly, but a smile slowly tickled her lips and she giggled, happy that his scary face was gone.

The children began muttering to themselves and Denzel just scowled and pushed past the other children and going downstairs. Marlene's face fell as she watched her friend leave so disgruntled. Kadaj pushed her head into his shoulder to block her view and smiled down at her. She paused a moment and smiled in return; he was so pretty when he genuinely smiled.

"Marlene…." Marlene looked down at her friends curiously when they called her name; "What do you think?"

Marlene beamed then and hugged Kadaj's neck pressing her face under his chin and turning to look at her friends at an angle; "They're a lot better! We have to help them stay that way!"

The other children smiled at each other then and finally up at Kadaj, their voices cluttering in the air around, filled with curious questions from those who'd forgiven and inquisitions from those who were skeptical.

Though, Marlene hated to admit it, Kadaj _had_ made her rather uncomfortable with his quick apology. It wasn't like him. His ego was too big for that; she wasn't sure how long an apology from him would take but she knew that was too fast. She could feel him lying through his simulated smile and distant gaze. He turned back to her, an apathetic pout gracing his full lips; "They're so annoying, why are they swarming here?"

"Sorry…" Marlene looked down at the other children and put her fingers to her lips, letting out a loud whistle that cut through the sound and brought it to silence. Everyone looked at her and Kadaj cursed, rubbing his ear and muttering that her whistle had been too Goddamn loud.

"Guys! They're trying to get settled cause they're staying here now. I'm gonna give them a tour but don't talk to them too long so they can adjust and stuff."

The children agreed, Kadaj flashed a grin, and they returned the gesture with eagerness.

They'd been won over; it was only a matter of time before the others came to love the beautiful men as well.

Kadaj was sure of that.

XXX

A/N: Whelp, I'm glad so many people like this :D weird or not eh? Some have asked why Marlene and Kadaj get along so well, for that story read my one-shot called 'Memories', this story is a sequel to that one :D Also, some are asking why Tifa and co. are so mean to the SHM, but remember, the SHM did kinda kidnap a bunch of kids and try to destroy the world….not to mention they're Sephi-clones, and not many people seem to want him back ;. So if I'm making this my point, why do the kiddies love them? Because, well, kids are more naïve than adults…yeah …..

Heheee, if anyone cares to, I'd love to see fanart or something for this fic. It motivates me, though don't feel obligated ; haha you can always go check out my DA webpage where I do fanart for it and fanart for just Kadaj/Marlene in general :D I'm a Marlene whore…if you couldn't tell already XD. Hahaha, well anyway, I'd also love to see some Kadaj/Marlene fics! Wooot! If you like this pairing, then give it a shot :D XD fear my shameless attempt at spreading this couple like a deranged fluffy disease! Drink it in! XD (cough) anyway……R & R please, flames welcome


	5. Talking to Strangers

Can't Forget

Chapter 5: Talking to Strangers

Rating: PG-13

By: Vampire Toy

A/N: A few questions I forgot to answer are answered at the end of this chappie. Just wanted to start off with a big thank you to everyone for support, reviews, and helpful critique. I take it all to heart to make my writing better for you

XXX

The day went by in a fuss, with all the children constantly swarming over any silver haired man they could find. Questions flooded around the brothers like water from a broken dam; whenever one child got a satisfying answer, another curious adolescent would worm their way into one of the silver-haired men's space. Kadaj managed to avoid most of the children by plodding along with Marlene, who continuously told the other children not to bother him while he was 'adjusting'.

Yazoo, on the other hand, was enjoying his swarm of miniature groupies; confirming to Tifa that he was indeed suffering from the 'middle child' syndrome. Loz almost didn't notice the children, unlike Yazoo, and nearly stepped on a few of them while trying to follow a tremendously annoyed Tifa around the house. Though in his following, he earned a few nasty looks from Cloud, who also began following poor Tifa around the house.

XXX

Marlene hadn't seen Denzel since the morning and was slightly worried about where he could be. Kadaj almost didn't give her time to ponder her friend's whereabouts, however, pulling her along and pointing out places, wanting to know what they were for. Eventually both had wandered quite a ways away from 7th Heaven and further into the filthy, crowded city.

"This place is disgusting." Kadaj commented, holding Marlene's hand as the two wandered along the cities maze-like streets.

"I…I haven't been here before, I'm scared Kadaj. Can we go home now? I don't know these places, I can't tell you anything about them." Marlene frowned nervously as passerby's gave them nasty or sly looks.

"Don't be like that Marlene, we'll explore together, then you'll be safe."

Marlene didn't want to mention to Kadaj that he might too be in danger; she'd heard the news and stories about the scary muggers and murderers and rapists that merged well with other ill-natured people of the broken city.

They didn't care who you were or how old or young or what your status, they'd just attack….almost like Auntie Tifa and Uncle Cloud's battles with their numerous enemies. Except in this case, Marlene felt that everyone around them had an unfair advantage over her and her silver haired companion.

She clung tighter to Kadaj's hand when a dingy and lanky man gave her a toothy grin, his grubby face stretching awkwardly with the semi-smile as a malicious twinkle found his slit-like eyes. Kadaj gave some reassurance by squeezing her hand in return, but he continued to venture further, pulling her along.

"Kadaj! Please, I'm scared!"

"Marlene!" He huffed, almost playfully, as if not completely taking her seriously.

Marlene wanted to cry. She didn't like it when Kadaj refused to listen to her or take her seriously. He did that a lot lately, especially that morning at breakfast.

"_Kadaj! Please don't throw your food at Denzel!"_

"_He started it."_

"_Kadaj! Please don't pick food out of other people's plates!"_

"_They won't miss it."_

"_Kadaj! Please take your feet off of the table!"_

"_I'm comfortable like this."_

The little brunette grimaced at the thought of the tiring afternoon; she felt like she had to mother Kadaj and his brothers, mostly Kadaj, but still, it was a lot of work!

"Kadaj…" Marlene gave a small grunt of annoyance as the crowd thickened around them, Kadaj ahead of her now, almost literally dragging her through the mass of people.

"Kadaj!" she could feel her hand slipping from his, the people were everywhere! She couldn't even see Kadaj anymore! She felt her hand lose his and began to panic.

"KADAJ! KADAJ!" She cried frantically, struggling to get through the crowd to catch up to the Sephiroth clone. She spotted the top of his silver head and struggled harder to get through the crowd. He obviously hadn't heard her or even noticed she was gone, because soon she couldn't even see the top of his head.

He was gone.

She was alone.

She was lost.

She was scared

Marlene fought the urge to cry as tears welled up in her eyes; she wanted Kadaj to come back for her, she didn't understand how he couldn't notice her absence, how he didn't hear her screaming.

"Hey little girl, are you lost?" A grainy voice asked from behind her. Marlene didn't even look and dove through the legs of people in the crowd.

She didn't want to be on the news.

She didn't want to be mugged or raped or murdered.

"Hey!" a different voice rang out angrily as she ran into someone's leg by accident. She scrambled away but was snatched by her arm just as she was about to dive under another pair of legs.

"Yoooou betterrr apologizzzeee yo….." The perpetrator pulled her back roughly so she was forced to turn and look behind her.

Marlene looked up fearfully to find a red headed man peering down at her, one of his eyes opened wide and the other squinting intently at her. He wobbled and spun her around completely, eyeing her curiously.

"Ya look familiar…..we date beforrrrreor somthin?" he gurgled, bending down close to her face to get a better look.

She shook her head fiercely and held her breath when she smelled the alcohol flood from his raspy breathing.

"I ssssthink I knoow ya, yo, dontcha recognizzze me ornuthin?"

"No! I don't know who you are! Please…please let me go!" Marlene begged as the man's grip tightened.

"Come withmeee! I'll show you where we metnstufffff…..youwill rememberrrrr thenn…." The man turned to pull her along but she struggled; "Let me GO! I don't know you! I have to find Kadaj!" she whimpered.

"Hmm? Where do you belong then kiddo? Want me to help you find your mommy?" another voice asked. It was sleek, very much like how Marlene imagined a snake would sound if it could talk. She turned fearfully, as did the man holding her hand.

The greasy haired man that had smiled so eerily at her earlier was looming over her; obviously having waited his chance to find her without a protector.

"Geeetch yer own girrrrlfrienddd jackasss…." The red head waved an annoyed hand and Marlene eagerly followed him this time, clinging to him as if for dear life.

She could see herself being able to escape form this drunken man, but not from a sober one. She'd have to take her chances with the creepy red head that thought she was his girlfriend.

XXX

Kadaj felt his mind evaporate into the sounds and sights around him; it was all so…._fascinating_. These people, this place, the buildings, the sounds and smells….all of it was so unbelievably new and yet…he felt somehow he should know this place. As if he'd visited this place before, maybe not long, he wasn't sure. In the back of his mind he could recall a time he'd come to this city, but he could never recall a time he had been to this part of it. Nothing looked familiar to the one visit he'd paid the rotting city in attempt to destroy it. Still, he found it strange that he knew not to step on certain dents in the road, not to go into certain buildings, he even felt himself cursing the lack of good restaurants as he passed many, all of which he'd never been to.

_Have I been here before? Mother what is this place? Perhaps you are here and you are calling me?_

Kadaj closed his eyes and stood still, trying to find her voice but he could hear nothing.

"Watch it freak!" a man pushed by him angrily and Kadaj snapped at him with a growl, coming to his senses and continuing his walk.

What revolting people!

Kadaj sauntered aimlessly through the fog-engulfed streets and suddenly stopped. He stretched out his hands uncertainly, curling his fingers into his palm and then out again. There was nothing in his hand, not another tiny hand in his own like there should have been.

"**Marlene." **A voice whispered in his mind, equally as shocked at the loss of the little girl.

Kadaj spun around frantically, shoving people aside and looking through crowds and legs, trying desperately to find the little girl.

"MARLENE!" he became more viscous with his scramble and began shoving people into streets and into each other, causing some to fall and others to trip or stumble.

"Watch it dumbass!"

"What the hell is your problem?"

"Stupid son of a bitch!"

"MARLENE! MARLENE! WHERE IS SHE!" Kadaj grabbed a man abruptly and shook him roughly, obviously surprising the gruff man with his immense strength.

"Let go freak!" the man yelled angrily.

"WHERE IS MARLENE? YOU'RE NOT ANSWERING MY QUESTION! WHERE IS SHE!"

"I don't know who the hell your talking about!" the man cried, becoming fearful as Kadaj lifted him effortlessly off the ground and shoved him against a wall. People were beginning to gather and stop to watch, some scurrying along and not wanting to get in the middle of it.

"USELESS!" Kadaj flung the man into the street and onto the hood of an oncoming car. A few people cried out and the car screeched and swerved to a stop as the man tumbled limply off onto the asphalt.

"What the hell did you do that for!" someone from the crowd yelled.

"WHERE IS SHE! I'LL KILL YOU ALL! GIVE HER BACK!" Kadaj yelled, causing anyone whom might've dared to speak, to become instantly silent.

Kadaj ripped his way through the crowd an unfamiliar feeling of complete and frantic rage building in his chest.

He had never become so irate; this new uncertainty and fearfulness was strange and uncontrollable, only angering him more.

He felt as though he might explode.

As though he was becoming something else.

Becoming _someone_ else.

As the eyes of people around him began to widen even more, the further he stormed, he was too furious to wonder if his familiar grimace, his fiery eyes, and his silver hair was what the people feared.

No, he had not time to wonder when he was slowly losing himself to someone else, someone who he owed all his traits to, including the fear he brought to others.

XXX

A/N: Ok, so there was some confusion and I always like to clear things up;

Q: Why wouldn't the SHM be good so they wouldn't go to hell? (Under the same tone, why would the others treat them badly if they thought they were afraid to go to hell?)

A: I have put a lot of thought into this and I'm glad the question was asked because it shows your thinking about the story and its plot like I do. Alas, the SHM have other things on their minds, to them it's not exactly reality unless it happens right then. Remember, they're a little childish so priorities that would be top on our lists wouldn't be top on theirs, aside from that, they have fuel for their fire in believing that their mother is still 'out there' because they didn't find her in the lifestream. And mommy can save them from anything, right? Well that's probably how they see it. Find mom. Be a family. Everything is ok. Besides, they only go to hell when they die, they figure they can BS it the moment of death. Hence they think they have all the time in the world. I hope that explains the first part of that question ;

Second part; why are they treated badly even if they have this big threat to keep them down? Whelp Tifa and co. aren't too keen on baddies, as I've explained in my last chapter, and they know the SHM are a little psycho and wouldn't put it past them to conveniently 'forget' their fate.

Another thing is, Denzel; don't worry about him being an antagonist, he's just being brotherly and keep in mind he looks up to Cloud and Cloud hasn't been handling the situation with an open mind either :D so it's Clouds fault (kicks him) That's also why he isn't so quick to forgive as the other children. Young children are easily influenced yes? Naïve and easily influenced, alas, Denzel was influenced by the person he looks up to; Cloud. The other children don't look up to him so much because they're already older and have most of their own opinions formed already.

FEW, I hope that helps; if you have any questions lemme know, I love answering them and it makes me happy to know your thinking about the story. I have a desperate need to fix my mistakes should I make any or clear up confusions if there are any.

BTW! Has anyone else been immensely excited by the sudden influx of MarleneSMH? I saw two fics the other day all of a sudden and I almost died with happiness (They're in my favorites if you wanna see em!). Now all we need is more fanart! MORE MORE! XD

I'm also thinking of making a website for Marlene/SHM; does anyone know how to make websites nice and pretty? I'd appreciate help very much

Heee, R & R please, flames welcome


	6. Two in One

Can't Forget

Chapter 6: Two-in-One

Rating: PG-13

By: Vampire Toy

A/N: How's the story so far? Lemme know! And if you like the couple, do fanart! It motivates me X3

XXX

Denzel had been holed up in Cloud's room all day but Cloud hadn't noticed until Tifa went into her own room, locking both Loz and him out.

The blonde stood in the doorway, unsure of what to say to the little boy who sat on his windowsill, looking scornfully at the outside world.

"Hey, what's up?" play it casual, that was hard for Cloud though; he had never been good with other adults' emotions, let alone a child's.

Denzel turned to him; a frown still placed neatly on his lips as he stared blankly at his idol.

"How long have you been up here?" Cloud asked finally after a few minutes of unresponsiveness on Denzel's end.

"All day." Denzel murmured, then his eyes went wide, as if he was finally waking from a stupor or dream; "Are you mad?"

Cloud smiled, "Nah…but it was a nice day, why didn't you play outside with the other kids?"

"They all think I'm too little."

Cloud inwardly slapped himself; he could recall a time Tifa had told him that Denzel and Marlene were in an awkward point, a point where the other children thought them a nuisance to drag around and they only had each other.

"Where's Marlene?" Cloud tried again.

Denzel grimaced angrily, his face becoming shadowed with hostility uncommon for someone so young.

Cloud inwardly slapped himself for a second time; he grudgingly reminded himself to think over his words before he spat them out.

"Kadaj took her away." His words came out as if he was spewing acid.

"Well, why didn't you go with her?" Cloud hoped this comment, at least, was decent. He ventured into the room to sit on his bed and face Denzel, whose face had softened in thoughtfulness.

"W-we're fighting." He murmured with suddenly red cheeks.

"You and Marlene?"

Denzel nodded, lowering his chin to his chest as he twiddled his fingers.

"Why were you fighting?" Cloud asked gently.

Denzel turned red again, but this time from anger; "I…I thought that the…the men, you know…the silver haired men were bad….but she said they weren't and….yeah…"

Cloud smiled slightly and pet Denzel's head; "You're just trying to look out for her aren't you?"

Denzel nodded, continuing to look down at the floor.

"Well, why don't you just tell her that?" Cloud continued, "Maybe she'll be more open to listen then."

The little boy tilted his head in thought and finally smiled, "Okay."

Then he frowned.

Cloud blinked curiously, "What is it?"

"They're not back yet."

Cloud froze, Tifa and himself where the only two adults in the building who could take anyone anywhere and the silver haired men had promised on of the two would escort them if they went too far off. Cloud had been following Tifa all day and was dead sure that neither of them gave either Kadaj or Marlene permission.

"Back? Back form where?"

Denzel sighed and swung his legs woefully, oblivious to Cloud's sudden panic attack, "They went to tour the city. I heard them talking and stuff."

Cloud stood up instantly and Denzel looked up questioningly.

"I…uhh….I'll go bring them back…how about that?" the blonde grinned nervously, not wanting to upset the now worried looking Denzel.

"Can I come?"

"No!"

"…..?"

"I mean…..I need you to stay here and watch Tifa for me. There are still two other silver-haired men in the house." Cloud grinned nervously.

Denzel stood and puffed his chest, balling his hands into tiny fists and placing them proudly on his hips.

"I'll take good care of Tifa, I promise!"

"Good." Cloud smiled and ruffled his head before turning to the door and whisking out, "Oh," Cloud turned and peeked his head in the door, "Don't tell Tifa anything about this ok?"

Denzel blinked, unsure of why that would be a problem but nodded anyway.

"Good then, I'll be back soon."

XXX

Marlene wanted to cry.

She wanted to wail and kick and scream and fight her way out of the man's grip.

But he moved too fast and she knew that he was her safest bet.

Or at least she hoped he was.

She didn't know where he was taking her or why.

"Weeeee'reee heereee suggggrrrr." He slurred with a lopsided grin as he turned and looked down at her; "Hmmmm you got….shorterrrr….yo?"

She shook her head meekly and looked around to see if she could recognize anything about the dreary hellhole.

Nothing.

It just looked like what she believed the 'bad place' would look like.

The place she didn't want Kadaj, Yazoo, and Loz to end up in and yet here _she_ was.

They looked like apartment complexes, dreary like everything in the city, but with a little extra zing of depression, being as far away from the church and greenery as possible. The man pulled her up a flight of stairs, making her fear for her life when he nearly toppled over a few times. Surprisingly he caught himself on the railings each time.

"We met herrrrrrrrre Ithink…." He muttered, reaching with his free hand to pull out a key from his pocket. He clumsily fought with the lock for a minute or two, leaving Marlene to test his hold on her hand, and finding out, to her dismay, that even in his drunken state, his grip was like concrete.

"Hoooome sssweet hooome!" he declared, shoving her in and shutting the door behind the both of them, locking it back up and tossing the key on an small desk near the door and flipping a switch to illuminate the apartment.

Marlene eyed the key to memorize its place and finally turned to see what kind of a 'home sweet home' she'd been thrown into.

Shabby, messy, beer bottles everywhere.

Aside from that, it seemed to be a decent sized apartment. The entrance led right into the small living room on her left. It had a nice sized TV and a couch plopped right in front of it with a small coffee table between the two, she also spied a window on the far side of the room. On her right she saw a kitchen countertop and the entrance to the kitchen which overlooked the living room. Directly in front of them when they had entered, was a mini-hall that Marlene assumed led to the bedroom, bathroom, and maybe a closet.

All in all she had to admit, if not for the mess, and her current circumstances, it was a rather nice living space for this side of town.

She let out a shaky sigh and looked up at the redhead who was frozen in place, but held his grip as firmly as ever.

"Hmmm." He grumbled and closed his eyes tightly before opening them with a renewed sleepy glaze over his face.

"Bed tiiiime princcccceeeesssssss!"

"Wha-?" Marlene barely finished her question when the man swooped her up and walked down the tiny hall and into his bedroom, where he flicked the light on once again to lessen his own stumbling. Marlene's heart raced in fear and her eyes darted around to assess her surroundings.

Then she saw something that almost made hr heart stop; a phone. She didn't know where she was or how to get out, but Tifa would know. Cloud would know.

It was almost hidden under bottles and papers but she saw the pretty red phone on the bedside table. It was the prettiest phone Marlene had ever seen.

She squirmed lightly to try get the man to put her down but he looked down at her and gave her his lopsided grin once again.

"Feisssty aye?"

She shook her head wildly.

He nodded his head lazily.

"Didn' knoooow ya wanted to play…." He nodded to himself more so than to Marlene.

He placed her on the bed and straddled her. Marlene's eyes grew wide enough to fall out of her head and she felt all the blood drain from her body as her heart threatened to rip out of her chest as it thumped viscously against her ribs.

The man leaned down and kissed her once on her forehead, once on her nose, and then kissed her lips. The kiss seemed to last forever and it didn't help that Marlene was holding her breath. The light flickered, and the man finally looked up, breaking the kiss to glare at the light bulb that threatened to give out. It was a transitory moment because he once again focused his attention on her.

Marlene wanted to scream and cry but she couldn't, it was all stuck in her throat and her mind was racing with thoughts that she couldn't latch onto. She couldn't think straight save for one thing;

_I'm going to be on the news._

_I'm going to be on the news._

_Like all those other kids._

_I'm going to be on the news._

She closed her eyes tightly and tried to slow her breathing so she could make her sudden dizziness go away.

So she could make _everything_ go away.

The man bent down again and she felt him kiss her neck lightly before his entire body seemed to collapsed on top of her. Marlene's eyes flew open and she gasped at how heavy the man was, craning her neck to see what had happened.

The redhead had his eyes closed and a small trickle of saliva was beginning to trickle down the corner of his mouth.

_He fell asleep!_

She dropped her head back onto the pillow and began breathing heavily in nervousness and tried her hardest to keep her tears at bay.

She finally calmed slightly and began trying to get the man off of her.

Her relief suddenly swung back into panic.

He was much too heavy, she couldn't get him off!

Would she suffocate? Would he roll over and crush her?

She scowled at herself; Tifa and Cloud and Daddy were the strong ones, not her. She was still only little and could barely lift her own weight let alone that of someone three times her size.

She scrunched her face and took in a deep breath, ready to try and shove him off in a final effort. Without warning the man shifted and fell off of her, Marlene's hands still in a pre-shoving stance. Marlene took a deep breath and dropped her arms, thankful for the air. Her luck wasn't immense, though, because the man's arm wrapped around her as if she were a stuffed animal of some kind. She squirmed to get out but he didn't seem like he would let go anytime soon. It didn't help that his clinging was as rock-solid as his grip on her hand had been earlier that day.

Even in his drunken sleep his grip didn't falter.

Marlene sniffled lightly; she didn't like to cry because she was supposed to take care of the others when they were sick or needed help. She had to be grown up, if she wasn't then the other kids would laugh and call her a baby. She had never had many options that included crying. Now, however, the other kids weren't around to watch or be taken care of and there was nothing the man could do to make her feel any worse should he see her cry.

So she cried; tears trickled effortlessly down her cheeks as she watched the dingy ceiling with its unmoving brown ceiling fan and flickering light. She hiccuped every so often until the crying became louder and her gasps became more frequent. Her vision of the ugly roof was soon blurred by all her tears and she hardly noticed when the light completely flickered out.

XXX

Kadaj's eyes darted everywhere from the smallest corners to the crowded streets, but there was no sign of Marlene. His hands curled into tight fists as his heart began to race faster; what if he was too late? What exactly happened to her? Did someone take her? What did they do to her?

_I'll kill them._

His skin was beginning to burn, he couldn't understand it and the strange sensation mixed with his panic made him dizzy; he hated not being in control.

**Let me.**

Kadaj looked around at the sudden voice. He knew it was speaking to him, he just couldn't find it's owner as he watched people walk right by or stare at him in fear.

**Let me find her.**

Kadaj grimaced angrily; "She's _mine_, _I_ will find her."

**You think this body belongs to you? What's yours is mine, always has been.**

Kadaj felt a shiver of fear go down his spine; he wasn't accustomed to fear and he definitely didn't like it.

**I mean, families share everything, right?**

Kadaj hissed at the voice's sarcasm and began to run; "I can do this on my own! And I do not share my things! You are not family, I do not know who you are!"

However, Kadaj felt he _did_ know the voice, he only knew he sure as hell didn't want to. Sharing had never been his strongest point. He suddenly slammed into another person and looked down to find a grungy man that he recalled giving Marlene a nasty look earlier that day. He viciously grabbed his shoulders and his eyes flared with hatred, surprising the man; "Where is she?"

"What?" the man's eyes grew wide as he recognized his captor.

"The girl! Who else? Where is Marlene!" Kadaj's patience was running short.

"I-I dunno! Hey! Ow! Watch it man your hurting me!"

"You know…" Kadaj's eyes flickered with rage as his control began to slip. The man's fear could be felt through his clothes, his pulse was that violent.

"I…I didn't do nothin' to her! Some…some redhead took her!"

Kadaj's pupils narrowed immediately and he shoved the man against a wall roughly; "Which way?"

The man didn't hesitate and threw his arm up in the direction he'd last seen the two go.

Kadaj there the man aside effortlessly and marched through the crowd, easily clearing his path with his unwavering glare.

**You're moving too slowly, let me do this!**

Kadaj's face twisted angrily and he could feel something take hold of his body; "No! This has nothing to do with you! Whoever you are!"

**Of COURSE it has to do with me! You fool, I am the superior part of you and your brothers!**

Kadaj hesitated for a moment, putting his march of fury on pause; his skin was burning still but the burn was becoming far worse than the tingle it was earlier. Kadaj grabbed his arms and sunk to the ground, hissing in pain as he tried to keep his body from breaking.

_It's brother._

"**Correct.**"

XXX

A/N: BAAAH! AN UPDATE! AN UPDATE! SQUUEDLES! Anywhoo, I know it's short but I've been so busy Xx. but fear not, I have come bearing a gift of sorryness, one: a MarleneSHM website made by SaphireXSerpant! 8D Ask ehr about it or go to my webpage and on my journal will be a link! Same with gift two: BEHOLD! AMVS! Yessss I managed to make an account on YouTube, so go check it out! I made some Kadaj/Marlen, Yazoo/Marlene AMVs my screenname is Mykosaki. Whelp! Enjoy and make fanart and fanfiction! Makes me work faster XD


	7. New Tension Rising

Can't Forget

Chapter 7: New Tension Rising

Rating: PG-13

By: Vampire Toy

A/N: How's the story so far? Lemme know! And if you like the couple, do fanart! It motivates me X3

XXX

The window in the redhead's room faced a wall. No sun would shine in to wake Marlene, letting her know it was morning.

But she knew it was morning when she heard a loud screech. Not the sound of an alarm clock or a bird of any sort, no, this scream came from something else. The little brunette's eyes flew open in fear; screams always meant something was wrong. Her eyes darted around and came to rest on the redheaded man flailing around the bed in a panic. It would have been amusing if she didn't dislike him so much.

"OHMYGODOHMYGODWHATTHEHELLLL!" He spun around to face her and froze when he saw her eyes were open.

She was afraid to move, fearing it would make the man explode, but he began screaming again anyway.

"Little girl! Little girl! Oh my GOD!" he skid on the floor next to her and looked up at her nervously; "Hey…hey, umm…yo…" he lifted his hands to make motions but lowered them when Marlene scooted away from him.

"Hey there….sweetie….ummm, tell me, did I….er…hurt you?" he asked giving her a nervous grin.

Marlene wasn't sure how to answer him; she didn't have any bruises, he didn't hit her, what did her want her to say?

He seemed to take note of her confusion and tried a different approach; "Did I…er….oh shit, oh shiiit…..um did I er…touch you anywhere?"

Marlene opened her mouth slowly, this she could answer; "My hand, my arm, my forehead, my nose, my lips, my neck, and you picked me up."

He seemed to grow pale at her words and she also became nervous, wondering if she shouldn't have said anything at all.

"Is…is that all? N-nothing else? I…didn't take your clothes off or anything right?"

She shook her head. The man flopped his head down onto the mattress with a shaky sigh.

"Ok, yo….it's sorta ok….I didn't rape her…."

Marlene pulled her knees up to her chin and watched the man; he wasn't so bad when he wasn't drunk.

"Listen girlie, I'm reeeeally sorry for what I did ok? I shouldn't have and no one else should either … umm ….. yeah ….. so …. I'm sorry, yo."

Marlene had been told that apologies that were sincere should always to be accepted. She was still upset at the man but decided that Auntie Tifa would say that she should forgive him.

"Ok." She mumbled.

He looked up and smiled nervously, "Oooohkay…….so, ummm, oh crap, where'd you come from anyway?"

"I was with my friend and then I lost him." Marlene said sadly.

"Oh….who's your friend? How old is he? Is it your brother? Your daddy er……a friend your age?"

"I'm older than he is!" she announced proudly, "But he's taller than me."

The redhead scrunched his face in confusion; she couldn't have been more than six or seven, there was NO way anyone younger would be taller than she was.

"Well umm, do you have a mommy or a daddy I can call? Or maybe just…drop you off at your house?"

"I know my Auntie Tifa's phone number." Marlene said thoughtfully, jumping up and grabbing the pretty red phone.

"Auntie Tifa?" the man asked slowly.

"Yes." Marlene dialed the number to the 7th Heaven and waited eagerly for a familiar voice to pick up.

"Hello?"

"Denzel!" Marlene said excitedly.

"Marlene?"

"WOAH, do you mean Tifa _Lockheart_?" the man asked.

"Yes." Marlene said again, answering both males.

"Marlene Cloud went to look for-"

The redhead grabbed the phone and slammed it down onto the receiver, making Marlene squeak in surprise.

She looked up angrily, hoping to see his earlier apologetic face with an explanation for his rude actions.

There was no such thing.

He loomed over her darkly and a strange smile spread over his face.

"I thought you looked familiar, yo."

XXX

"Marlene?" Denzel asked, a panic coming over him when he heard the slamming down of the phone and the unwelcome sound of the dial tone.

"Marlene!"

Denzel dropped the phone and ran upstairs; she couldn't be with Kadaj anymore! That man he had heard in the background definitely didn't sound like the impish clone. If she wasn't with Kadaj, then how would Cloud find her? He had to tell Tifa! The man knew Tifa!

"Auntie Tifa! Auntie Tifa!" the bronze haired boy screeched all the way up stairs and to the front of the said woman's door, where a loyal silver haired man still sat.

"What's wrong?" Loz asked.

"TIFA!"

"Yes?" the black haired woman opened the door with an arched brow, which turned into a concerned narrowed one when she saw Loz and Denzel at her door.

"Tifa! Tifa! Cloud won't be able to find Marlene because she's not with Kadaj anymore and there's some weird guy she's with and the phone hung up and-"

"Woah, woah, woah!" Tifa held up her hands as the little boy sped through his findings. She knelt down and put her hands on Denzel's shoulders; "What was that about Marlene?"

"She's gone!" Denzel and Loz said simultaneously. Tifa turned to throw Loz a 'don't-interrupt-him' glare when she noted his glazed look. Denzel also noticed because he went silent and tilted his head curiously at the silver haired man's trance.

"Someone…a redhead….Kadaj says it's a redhead."

Both Tifa and Denzel's eyes grew wide.

"Miss Tifa!" a voice called from the top of the stairs; the woman slowly turned her head to face Yazoo whose Mako eyes flashed angrily; "Someone took Marlene!"

Tifa turned back to Denzel with wide eyes and narrowed them once more in thoughtfulness; "Denzel, what did you say about Marlene and a phone?"

Denzel took a deep breath; "I picked up the phone and it was Marlene! But then there was some guy talking in the background and he said your name then the phone hung up!"

"A red head who knows my name?" she said slowly looking at the two silver haired men, now standing side by side, ready to go.

Yazoo and Loz nodded, "Red hair." Loz replied.

"He was drunk, he says."

"Drunk….Kadaj says?" Tifa asked unsure. Both nodded. She was surprised by their communication ability but pushed it to the back of her mind.

Right now all that mattered was that Marlene was in the hands of a possible Turk.

XXX

Kadaj's vision blurred, he could make out figures of people around him, stopping to stare. What was the matter with them? Why were they staring?

He began coughing violently and covered his mouth with his gloved hands in attempt to stifle it. another thing he hated; showing weakness. He forced himself up and began to run; if he was going to writhe in pain, he would not do it in front of anyone. Never in front of anyone.

_Where are my brothers? I need help! If big brother takes over….what will he do? What will I do?_

Kadaj stumbled into an alleyway and curled behind a dump and two trashcans.

His body was on fire!

I was almost out, why are you fighting this?

"I…can…do this without you! This…..is _my_ body!" Kadaj said through clenched teeth; his words bringing another coughing spasm. Kadaj fell onto his side and tried to stop the coughing but his throat became raw and he seemed to be losing control of his body as his saliva dripped out like a waterfall.

No.

Not saliva…

Kadaj pulled one hand away from his mouth for observation.

It was glossy and dark on his black glove and almost hard to make out.

But he knew what it was.

Blood.

He was coughing up blood.

"WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS!" He cried, feeling his body losing as his head joined the rest of his body on the grime of the alley.

He felt his body changing but he never received an answer. His hair grew and his legs became longer, his muscles larger, his arms thicker. His face became ever more masculine as his jaw squared off slightly and his eyes narrowed. The burning was fading, like the light, the light was fading.

Kadaj cried out in his mind for his brothers to help him; he felt no response reach him and sent out a final thought before everything was gone.

_Marlene, I need you._

XXX

A/N: Oh me oh my! An update ever so fast? Doubtful I can keep it up XD but I'll try. And silly SaphireXSerpant! Threatening me with the magical website of Marlene/SHM goodness XD nooo! You must update now! Update until your fingers explode! (huggles) X3 so yeah, go check out the site my lovelies! And draw fanart for it! Write fiction for it! Make it beautiful :) and thank you for all your encouraging reviews, I appreciate them tremendously.

Oh yes, and if you haven't already, go check out my Marlene/SHM AMV's on YouTube X3 my name on there is Mykosaki…..and make more AMV's my sla—er my loves! …. …..yeah……(ahem)

Sooo Q+A time!

Q: Why is Sephi into Marlene? Well, seeing as Kadaj and his bros are all part of Sephi in the first place, I guess Sephi has a thing for little Marlene Oo poor thing, she gets molested by everyone.

It'll be explained more thoroughly, I promise :3


	8. Big Brother is Watching

Can't Forget

Chapter 8: Big Brother is Watching

Rating: PG-13

By: Vampire Toy

A/N: How's the story so far? Lemme know! And if you like the couple, do fanart! It motivates me X3

And just incase there's confusion;

**Bold **for the most part Sephiroth

XXX

Marlene felt a scream inside her mind and let out a gasp, her eyes widening and her skin crawling with a strange sensation. She shivered violently and shook out her head, turning to look out the window at the brick wall as she had been doing.

She had been locked in the man's room for a long time, probably hours. She could barely make out his voice in the other room where he had taken the pretty red phone to talk on.

He had called someone….someone named….Ten….Cent…..Tseng? The name sounded familiar, Marlene thought perhaps seeing the man's picture would help her remember. She hopped off the bed and knelt by the door, pressing her ear delicately against the wood.

"This is perfect! Rufus will love this…. yes I know it's the same thing we did last time…. yes I know… can you just call him already? ….what! No! Come on! Don't do that! Dammit. Can't you send Rude instead? Grrr…. fine, as long as you tell him, yo." The redhead sounded frazzled and angry now; Marlene didn't know if it was a good sign for her or a bad sign for the both of them.

"Yeah, I know…ok…bye."

Marlene dove for the bed as when he hung up, his footsteps followed almost immediately after and headed towards the door. The sound of keys jingled outside and the knob finally turned, and inside the room the redhead saw the little Marlene sitting plaintively staring out the window with its not-so-great-view.

"Hey kiddo, Marlene, is it? We're gonna have another friend come over all right? She's gonna play with you and…stuff….you know, keep you busy or whatever." He rubbed his head and grudgingly remained in the doorway, watching the little girl who refused to return his gaze.

She was _really_ mad at him now.

"Sooo…." He mumbled, silence never being his favorite environment, "Where's your real mom and dad?" he asked casually.

She pressed her lips tightly together and furrowed her eyebrows but didn't turn to him or respond.

"Come on now, I'm trying to make this as nice as I can."

"I wanna go home!" she said finally, turning to shoot him the worst glare she could muster. The man tilted his head and sighed, closing the door behind him as he came over and sat a ways away from her on the bed.

"Lets start over; my name's Reno, yo." He held out his hand for her but she didn't even look at it, focusing her stare on his face.

"You're a Turk!" she said finally, turning around and crossing her arms as she sat cross legged, angry with her failed attempt at a glare.

She remembered now.

They had done this before, just a little differently. The same one too. Daddy said they were evil, Tifa said they were horrible, and Cloud didn't voice it, but he would scrunch his face all angry-like when she asked about them.

And she asked Mister Vincent about them too, and he told them that they killed many people.

When she asked Uncle Cid, he told her they killed her mommy.

She didn't remember much of it, but remembered enough.

All in all, they were just mean people in white-collared suits.

"Hmm, yeah, you remember."

"You're a bad person! You don't do anything good!" Marlene spun around onto her knees and pressed down into the bedding with her tiny fists as she leaned towards Reno.

"Your Auntie tell you that?" he snickered.

"You kill people! Uncle Cid and Mister Vincent told me! My daddy too!"

"Your daddy? And where's your mommy?" the redhead was obviously losing his patience.

"She's dead!" Marlene huffed; her heart tightening.

"Did your daddy tell you the Turks did it?" Reno asked, crossing his arms and leaning back on the headboard. He'd heard his fair share of 'the Turks suck' and 'the Turks do this, the Turks did that'. He was pretty tired of it and though he could usually brush it off with a smile, this kid was now a hostage and someone he'd have to listen too for a **long** time;, this conversation topic would have to end soon.

"They DID!" She yelled.

"No, they probably didn't! This is what they call **politics**, it's a little something that's filled with lies and opinions, none of it is for real." Reno leaned forward also, not to be outdone by the seven year old, and exchanged childish glares with her. He came close enough to see the tears beginning to form in her eyes, he became nervous; crying children was not his thing.

"T-they killed my mommy and all my mommy's friends." She said softly, sitting back on her legs, "And they broke my house and they broke all my stuff and all the windows."

Reno sat back also and thought curiously over her words; broke her house? Sounded like an invasion of sorts. But the Turks wouldn't go into someone's house for no reason and break it apart.

"Tell me kiddo, where'd you used to live before Midgar?" Reno asked, switching his position and leaning back on his hands dangerously close to the edge of the bed.

"Coral." She sniffed.

He replied by completely losing his balance and toppling backwards off the bed. Marlene's tears were put on hold at Reno's clumsiness and she tilted her head curiously.

"CORAL!" his head popped up from wherever he'd been lying on the floor and glanced at the brunette on the bed.

"Yes." She said softly; afraid that she once again had said the wrong thing.

Reno fell back down and Marlene crawled over to the edge tentatively to peek at the redhead who lay sprawled on the ground with his hands covering his face.

"COME **_ON_**!" He suddenly screamed, sitting up and flailing his arms, making Marlene squeak and throw herself to the other side of the bed.

"Reno is the bad guy today, is that right!" he screamed at the ceiling.

Marlene resisted replying.

He grumbled angrily and turned to a wide-eyed Marlene with a half pout-half frown, averting his gaze before stating; "Sorry 'bout that."

Marlene tilted her head curiously; what _exactly_ was he apologizing for? Marlene was about to ask, when a buzzing noise rang throughout the small home.

"Damn I need a beer, yo." Reno huffed and pushed himself up, walking out of the room with hunched shoulders and his hands in his pockets.

Marlene scrambled up after him, refusing to be left alone again. The redheaded Turk scratched the back of his head, pausing at the front door and finally reaching for it when he heard a loud and angry yell.

"RENO OPEN UP!"

He grimaced and gave a childish look of annoyance, complete with a pout, before ever-so-slowly opening the door. Marlene peeked around curiously and saw a short haired blonde woman standing in the doorway, looking undeniably irritated. She was dressed in what Marlene remembered as the standard Turk uniform, unlike Reno who only wore a black shirt and khakis.

"It's two in the afternoon and your still not dressed?" she scolded, walking in.

"Listen rookie, I did my part of the job, no uniform required. Do you really think she'da come with me if I was dressed all pretty and Turk like?" Reno sneered.

The blonde huffed and refused to make eye contact with the redhead, instead looking down at Marlene with a kind smile.

"Hi there sweetie." She bent over and held out her hand, "My name is Elena, what's yours?"

Marlene gave a shy smile; this one looked very nice. She took the blonde's hand and shook it politely, "My name is Marlene, Marlene Wallace!"

XXX

There had to be _something_ about her. He wouldn't be so interested otherwise; these three parts of him wouldn't be so interested.

Sephiroth made his way out of the alleyway, walking calmly past wide and fearful eyes.

He found it especially fascinating that his _cruelty_ would find something so small and so plain… so…. _attractive_.

Love had never been on his agenda; only mother's wishes were important and worth while.

**Something so insignificant that can distract you so much….I cannot understand it but I will find out what this fascination of yours is.**

A small smirk curled over his lips as he thought this; if this was indeed a cause of this 'love' thing, then it was only fair that it should belong to him. He had been the most faithful to mother and this must be her reward. Of course his mission wasn't complete, but he had come close so many times…

In any case, if ever a curiosity of any emotion came to him, it was that of love. As far as Sephiroth knew, it was a chemical reaction in the brain, nothing more. Not until now did he ever fathom that it could be an overwhelming emotion that would drive him as it did then. He knew he loved his mother, she had been the only thing he'd ever truly loved, but this feeling was different.

It did in some ways confuse him, which he disliked greatly, but all in all, he found the thought of a life-long companion rather enticing; it was ever so lonely sometimes, trying to destroy the world. How better to go about it than with someone devoted only to you?

He stopped suddenly, and looked up to study his surroundings.

An apartment complex.

He smiled; he could feel her inside the building and he knew which room exactly.

**_How happy she would be_,** he thought, **_to see her companion again, and how delightful it would feel to have her love me._**

XXX

The sounds of the outside world were as clear as if he were walking around in them himself.

But he wasn't.

He wasn't technically in the real world anymore.

Kadaj's Mako eyes looked up into the darkness with mock interest for but a moment before he let his head drop back down to observe the nonexistent ground.

Everything about the place was dark; just emptiness and nothingness.

He wondered for a moment how much he _really_ wanted to get out. He would just bleed again, his struggles would make his older brother angry and he might disappear all together.

His eyes grew wider when he noticed his hands were different, and his feet were different, and his height was almost nonexistent.

Kadaj sighed; flopping down onto the ground with his feet sprawled out, sitting back on his hands. No use worrying over his looks when there was no one to see him. He dropped his body flat on the ground and put one hand behind his head, the other in front of his face for observation.

The last time he reemerged was only when his older brother had been weakened, and it was doubtful there was anyone nearby to do that; he'd just have to wait for Cloud or Tifa to shake Sephiroth a little and Kadaj would be back out again.

"**_Something so insignificant that can distract you so much….I cannot understand it but I will find out what this fascination of yours is."_**

The young clone perked at the sound of his older brother's voice.

He was obviously talking about Marlene and Kadaj didn't enjoy it.

"**_How happy she would be_,** **_to see her companion again, and how delightful it would feel to have her love me."_**

Kadaj scrunched his face angrily and sat up, muttering angrily. This wasn't a good feeling.

"Jealousy."

Kadaj tilted his head; a new voice.

The darkness around him withered into drops that resembled mirrors. Kadaj looked over curiously and frowned in disgust; he looked like he was about five or six. No wonder his height had been diminished.

"Who are you?" Kadaj muttered in his now squeaky voice, "What have you done to me?"

The drops began to blend until they surrounded Kadaj in flash of bright light, making the clone squint his eyes at the sudden beam. When the light tamed a bit, his eyes were allowed to take in his new location; a flower field.

There was a soft chuckle of a woman's voice and then a second of silence; _"Kadaj, have you forgotten me already?"_

Kadaj pouted and shrugged, sitting back down.

"I did not do that to you, my dear, this is just your inner image; your inner self…."

"My inner self is NOT some little kid!" Kadaj snapped.

She laughed again; _"Calm down…that is not what I'm here for."_

Kadaj was silent; suddenly interested at the purpose for his visitor.

"Kadaj, I know your intent for Marlene. I knew it before you even came back; old habits die hard, don't they?"

XXX

A/N: Now forgive me if I'm wrong but Shinra/Turks and Avalanche aren't the best of buddies, yes? They kidnapped Marlene once and held her captive so now they're doing it again! Because though they sorta-kinda worked together in the movie, they still weren't posing for pictures together at the end, so tension still resides.

And eek! Sephi is a pedo O oh well, we'll see if this bodes well or no. Hnnn maybe he's a little TOO creepy in this? Hahaha errr….yeah…..

This story only has a few more chapters to go! But no fear if you like it, I have plans for other MarleneSHM stories and I'm always open for suggestions :)


	9. Same Old Twisted Story

Can't Forget

Chapter 9: Same Old Twisted Story

Rating: PG-13

By: Vampire Toy

A/N: How's the story so far? Lemme know! And if you like the couple, do fanart! It motivates me X3

And just incase there's confusion;

**Bold **for the most part is Sephiroth

Kadaj stiffened and grit his teeth; "What do you mean?"

"Kadaj, I cannot stop you if I see you doing something wrong; the sound of my voice will not make you cease your plans and visualizing myself will not make you hesitate, but I know who does have that effect on you. I know what you have known all along, Kadaj."

Kadaj didn't fully understand; he knew that voice probably knew about his plans; his plans to escape again and continue the search for mother. In a way she was right, old habits die hard. It was a bit compulsive.

As for anything else, he couldn't say.

"Aeris?" a dry question.

"Yes Kadaj, it is me."

After confirming his suspicions about the voice, he sat back a little more relaxed; talking to total strangers so personally was not going to happen if he had anything to do with it.

Yet he almost wished he _was_ talking to a stranger.

What was this thing that Aeris knew about Kadaj that he didn't?

Yes he remembered Marlene when he was brought back, yes he knew befriending her would keep him out of harms way as he continued his search, yes at first he had still been a little prickly over Marlene running away form him the first time, yes he planned on doing the same to her, and yes it was all rather twisted and unkind of him to use the small girl who'd been nothing but a beautiful help.

But Aeris made it clear she knew all these things.

Thinking over his intentions, Kadaj became somewhat uncomfortable.

There _had_ been a change in plans after all….in the back of his mind he had known it the entire time. He was going to continue his plans, no doubt, but he would take Marlene _with_ him.

As far as he'd seen, she was nothing but pure and loving; something he'd never encountered before, something he felt he could accomplish with her by his side.

So she had left him, and he was still upset, but….this time she would go with him, right? This time she would choose _him_ over his rouge brother.

That's what he was so furious about; the fact that she would have left him for the same person who had brought an end to him and his brothers.

That couldn't be the love he'd heard so much about, because it made him angry, and love shouldn't make you angry, or so he assumed.

Anger was for enemies, and when Marlene made him angry, she was his enemy.

She redeemed herself, though, and she had made him very happy.

The love had been restored.

Kadaj was glad, because even when he had been angry, he had missed her.

His face flushed suddenly at this and his heart pounded as he crossed his arms uncomfortably, attempting to stifle the loud pounding of his chest; "W-what? So if I tell you this….this other thing, can I leave this place?"

"Oh Kadaj, listen to your heart, what's it telling you? I don't need to hear anything from you, but I know someone who does."

Kadaj blinked and pondered, tapping his finger on his chin thoughtfully; "Umm, do….do you mean….Marlene?"

Aeris laughed, a very beautiful laugh, a laugh that told Kadaj he was right.

"Kadaj, you are slowly figuring this out."

"What do you mean 'slowly'?! You said I knew this all along!"

Another chuckle was heard and the voice slowly began to fade.

"H-hey! Wait! I'm not done! What do I do to get out? What do I tell Marlene?!"

"I'm sorry Kadaj…but Sephiroth has found me and he's pulling me out, I can't-"

"Can't what?! Tell me! Come back! Come back!"

It was too late, the entire flower field shattered like the mirrors they first appeared to him as, the shards of glass falling further and further into the darkness until Kadaj was alone once again.

"NO!!!! WHY?!" he screeched, stomping around angrily, wishing there was something for him to rip apart.

"I WANT OUT! I DON'T WANT TO BE IN HERE! LET ME OUT!"

"**Brother don't be a fool, you are but a child and only proving it to me as you whine."** Sephiroth's mocking voice cooed.

Kadaj snarled but looked down in embarrassment.

"**Now watch, little one, at what you've won me."**

Kadaj blinked and looked up, a broken mirror much different from the oval ones, appeared in front of Kadaj like some demented television to the outside world. He was walking, or rather…Sephiroth was walking….walking to a door….a door where Marlene was! He could feel it! She was there! Kadaj almost bounced up, he was so excited to see her again!

The door came crashing in with a flick of the man's wrist and behind it was nothing. Kadaj watched confused, and his altered body continued forward, walking to a window at the far end of what looked like a pseudo-living room.

The window was open.

The wind was blowing the curtains.

Kadaj knew then, that the chase was on.

"Where are we goooing?!" Marlene screeched angrily as Elena and Reno both sped out of the apartment complex in the blonde's car.

"We're going on a little trip honey." Elena said, trying her best to hold the squirming child still.

Just minutes ago Rufus informed the two Turks that Sephiroth was back…again. he was apparently heading their way, probably because they had the little girl.

"WHERE?!" a shrill voice demanded.

"To the Golden Saucer ok?! Just shut up until we get there!" Reno snapped back.

"I DON'T WANNA GOOOO!" she bellowed in retaliation, squirming even more fiercely.

"There will be rides there honey, and toys and candy and lots of fun things!" Elena desperately spewed.

"I DON'T WANNA GO! You LIARS! LIAR, LIAR PANTS ON FIRE!"

"Listen, you wanna know where we're really going?" the red head yelled over Marlene's incessant cries.

Marlene became deathly quiet, eager to know the plan that she knew next to nothing about.

"We're going to our headquarters ok? And there we're gonna hide you and PROTECT you from a crazy insane maniac who probably wants you DEAD."

Marlene's curious face immediately snapped into an angry glare.

"Kadaj and Yazoo and Loz are gonna kick your butt!" she crossed her arms.

Reno's right eye grew wide while the left one twitched in rage and he turned to the child as if raising a challenge; "Didn't you HEAR me? We're PROTECTING you!"

"LIAR, LIAR PANTS ON FIRE!" She shrieked once again.

"SHUT UP!"

"RENO! WATCH THE ROAD DAMMIT!" Elena slapped his face to the front and Reno let out an oddly effeminate scream as he narrowly swerved to miss a truck.

There was silence for a moment in the speeding car but only for a moment, because no sooner had the shock of a near-death experience worn off than had Marlene began her rant again.

"Kadaj is in trouble! I know he's hurt somewhere please let me go find him!" she cried mournfully.

"No." Reno muttered.

"He means, as soon as the man is arrested then we can go look."

"But Kadaj needs me NOW."

"What can you do even if that was true huh? You're just a kid." Reno muttered.

And with that Marlene began to cry.

Tifa was furious; Cloud didn't tell her about Marlene and now it might be too late. She drove her truck with a stiff jaw and an angry scowl. Neither of the silver haired brothers said anything as she sped through the streets while continually calling Cloud's cellphone. The more she heard his answering machine's beep, the more enraged she became.

"Other way!" Yazoo yelled suddenly as she turned down a street, only to almost flip her car to turn around.

Their directions were spastic but they were all Tifa had; whatever connection they had with their brother might help her find Marlene.

"Can you tell me before I turn?" Tifa snapped as she turned down the right way.

"I have to ask him as we go." Yazoo said in an oddly monotone voice.

She guessed he was still contacting Kadaj.

"Tifa." Loz said softly as to not envoke her wrath.

"What?"

"Someone's on the phone."

Tifa's thumb was right above the 'end call' button before she listened to a timid 'Tifa?' on the other end.

"CLOUD WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?!" she shrieked.

"I'm….with Rufus."

"What?" Tifa's anger was veiled by curiosity.

"You should get over here too, he thinks…maybe Sephiroth is back."

A/N: OMG OMG OMG An UPDATE! Yayels:D anywaaaay, this story is almost done! Yayness! About two or three more chapters, including the epilogue. SO ummm draw some fanart! Write some stories! Motivate me XD


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